Hezbollah rockets kill 11 in Israel

According to the Associated Press, Israeli jets fired six missiles into Beirut's southern suburbs Sunday afternoon, Lebanese security officials said. Loud explosions shook the capital, and a column of white smoke rose over the horizon.

Hezbollah and its allies rejected the U.S.-French text of the U.N. resolution, saying its terms for a halt in fighting did not address Lebanon's demands - in a signal that the nearly 4-week-old battle would burn on.

Both sides appeared to be aiming to inflict maximum mutual damage in the few days before the resolution is expected to be voted on by the U.N. Security Council.

Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli towns, with one making a direct hit on a crowd at the entrance of the communal farm of Kfar Giladi.

Ten people were killed outright in the explosion, and another died a few hours later from his wounds, Israeli emergency services said. It was the highest toll from a rocket attack since the conflict began July 12. Israel's Channel Two television said nine of the dead were army reservists.

When word of the rocket strike reached the Israeli Cabinet during its weekly meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "Lucky that we are dealing with Hezbollah today, and not in another two or three years," according to a participant in the meeting.

In southern Lebanon, dozens of Israeli strikes hit communities and roads, with some villages bombed continually for a half hour, security officials said. Ground fighting raged along a stretch of southern Lebanon where the Israeli army has crossed the border.

A statement from Hezbollah announced the deaths of three of its fighters, but did not say when or where they were killed.

A Hezbollah rocket blast also injured three Chinese peacekeepers Sunday, China's state media reported, citing a Chinese officer. The report did not specify where the attack occurred or whether the peacekeepers had been hospitalized.

The attack came hours after Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a telephone conversation that the world body should take tangible measures to ensure the security of U.N. peacekeepers, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

/news.yahoo.com/