February 3, 2000
Web posted at: 10:27 p.m. EST (0327 GMT)

In this story: Israel says weapons cache found U.N. peacekeepers express frustration RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

TYRE, Lebanon -- Several consecutive days of fighting between Israeli and guerrilla forces in israeli-occupied southern Lebanon have prompted international calls for restraint on all sides of the conflict.

Witnesses and security sources said Israeli aircraft hit suspected guerrilla targets Thursday near the Habboush River and Majdal Zoun, a village about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the port city of Tyre. An Israeli spokesman confirmed the airstrikes, saying all jets had returned safely to base.

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Earlier Thursday, Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas said they had launched a series of attacks against four outposts on the edge of Israel's so-called security zone near the Lebanese border.

The 15-kilometer-wide (9-mile) strip of Lebanese territory is manned by Israeli troops and Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) militiamen. Lebanese security officials said the guerrillas, in one of the attacks, fired an anti-tank rocket at the Israeli military outpost in Radar, which overlooks Tyre.

No casualty reports were available from the air and mortar attacks.

Israel says weapons cache found

Israeli army officials in Jerusalem, meanwhile, said SLA forces discovered a weapons cache Thursday in the occupied zone that included a machine gun and rockets belonging to guerrillas. The army statement said SLA forces removed the cache, "foiling intentions of the terrorists to attack Israeli and SLA soldiers."

Britain, the United States and France have expressed concern about the increased fighting in the region. British envoy Lord Levy, who was meeting with Mideast leaders this week, called for "maximum restraint" by all sides.

After meeting Thursday in Beirut with Prime Minister Salim Hoss, Levy told reporters he hoped for positive results soon in Israel-Syria negotiations that will bring Lebanon into peace talks.

Israel has linked the surge in violence to the recent impasse in peace talks between Israel and Syria, which maintains that the two issues are unrelated. Damascus denies having direct influence on Hezbollah.

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U.N. peacekeepers express frustration

The increased fighting and heightened danger in southern Lebanon has prompted U.N. peacekeepers in the region to confine their troops to barracks, according to a spokesman for the U.N. Interim Force in South Lebanon (UNIFIL), Timur Goskel. Goskel said continued fighting might force some peacekeeper units to relocate.

But a spokesman at U.N. headquarters said the U.N. had no intention of withdrawing peacekeepers from southern Lebanon, despite the risk.

"It's not our intent to pull out. We've stuck it out since '78, and we intend to stick it out to the end," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard.

Eckhard said Goskel was simply expressing frustration. He said cease-fire violations in south Lebanon come and go in waves.

"We know that the violations can be controlled," Eckhard said, adding that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan believes peace in the Middle East and Lebanon has never been closer.

Monday, a Hezbollah rocket attack killed three Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon. The day before, Hezbollah guerrillas detonated a bomb that killed the SLA's second-in-command, Akl Hashem.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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