Israel to continue but not expand offensive

President Bush, however, declined to criticize Israel8217;s tactics against Hizbollah and sharply condemned Iran8217;s role in the conflict. 8216;8216;Hizbollah attacked Israel. I know Hizbollah is connected to Iran,8217;8217; Bush said tersely in Washington. 8216;8216;Now is the time for the world to confront this danger.8217;8217; With ceasefire efforts stalemated, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Malysia she was prepared to make a second tour of the Middle East but did not specify when.

Mohamad Raad, leader of Hizbollah8217;s 14-members in the Lebanese Parliament, said: 8216;8216;The position for the Lebanese government is to establish an immediate and complete ceasefire and to start indirect negotiations for a prisoner exchange. Anything other than that is not acceptable.8217;8217;

Meanwhile, a videotape by Ayman al-Zawahiri threatened new attacks in response to Israel8217;s offensive, al-Qaeda8217;s first comment on the fighting.

Israeli airstrikes continued to pound south Lebanon and hit a Lebanese Army base and a radio relay station and destroyed several roads. Lebanese Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh said hospitals had received 401 bodies of people killed during the war launched by Israel.

Bodies still lie in the streets in some isolated Lebanese border villages, where fighting has trapped terrified civilians, the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC said. It also said one of its delegates had found about 700 people, including 300 children, sheltering in a mosque in Blida, a village near the embattled southern town of Bint Jbail.

In Gaza, Israeli attacks killed three people, including a 75-year-old woman on Thursday, medics said, a day after clashes in which 24 Palestinians died.

On ground: Israel could find itself on back foot

8226; Israel had advantage in air. Hizbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah had told a TV channel: 8216;8216;From the first day, I never claimed that we could shoot down F-16s.8217;8217; But he added, wait until the ground war. 8216;8216;When the Israelis enter south Lebanon,8217;8217; Nasrallah said, 8216;8216;they must pay dearly in terms of their tanks, officers and soldiers.8217;8217;

8226; Israel8217;s ground assault besgan on Sunday8212;and daily casualties have gone up.

8226; Hizbollah has upper hand in street battles. Its fighters are well-fortified inside villages and are well-armed with light arms, anti-tank missiles, ammunition and night-vision equipment hidden from the Israeli airstrikes in a network of bunkers and tunnels.

8226; The group draws fighters from the very villages and towns where they are now fighting: they blend in among civilians and know the terrain well.

8226; Hizbollah has a motivated 1,000 guerrillas, some trained by Iran8217;s Revolutionary Guards, and reserves of up to 5,000 fighters.