Israel, Hezbollah Vow Wider War

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Conflict Escalates in the Middle East
The leader of Hezbollah promised an all-out war Friday after Israeli warplanes attacked his residence and Hezbollah's main headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt, and Israel vowed to press its offensive in Lebanon until the Shiite Muslim militant group was disarmed.

The scope of the attacks in Lebanon and the mounting civilian toll there have drawn wide-ranging condemnation. French President Jacques Chirac denounced Hezbollah's attacks but called Israel's actions "totally disproportionate." The United Nations' top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, said Israel's attacks against transportation infrastructure violated international law.

The fighting led thousands of Lebanese, foreign tourists and Syrian laborers to flee to Syria on Friday, crossing at the Masnaa border post. The main road was damaged in the bombing, but most people were able to find their way using back roads. A Syrian border official estimated that about 15,000 vehicles had passed through the crossing over two days. Hotels in the Syrian capital, Damascus, were fully booked, and the city's airport was crowded with travelers awaiting flights.

"We left because there is a war," said Mohamad Safadi, 26, a Syrian laborer who had been living in south Beirut and who walked and hitchhiked his way back to Syria. "For three days we have been under attack, and the Israelis are merciless."

Arab governments have pointedly stopped short of backing Hezbollah's abduction of the two Israeli soldiers, with Saudi Arabia calling it an "uncalculated adventure." But in Damascus, Syria's ruling Baath Party vowed to support Hezbollah against Israeli attacks, and cars careered through the city's streets after nightfall honking horns and displaying Hezbollah's yellow and green banner.

Lebanese have debated whether Hezbollah expected the full brunt of the Israeli attacks. At his news conference Wednesday, Nasrallah said Hezbollah was prepared for any Israeli response, and the faction's officials have kept to that line since. "We have planned for this," one official said in an interview. "And when you plan for an operation like that, you are prepared for all possibilities."

But some Lebanese are recalling the grim days of the 1982 Israeli invasion, when Beirut was besieged.

"It led us to a war we are not prepared to fight," said Yassin Soueid, a retired Lebanese general. "Israel could hit the presidential palace. . . . They can hit wherever they want, and there is nothing we can do about it."

Opinion has divided largely along sectarian lines. Hardly anyone, at least publicly, supports Israel's methods in trying to dismantle Hezbollah, but there is deep anger at the consequences of a decision Hezbollah took on its own. Still, the group enjoys deep and often fervent support among Shiite Muslims, the country's largest single community, giving Hezbollah a virtual veto over any government decision or any solution imposed from abroad.

Across the country, Hezbollah's strength has given Lebanese a sense that an impasse could drag on for weeks, perhaps longer.

At the Sahel Hospital, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Mohammed Ibrahim lay in a bed with injuries to his forehead, shoulder and right leg and burns on his back, suffered when an Israeli missile struck a bridge. The wiry 26-year-old from Syria had been walking from his apartment for dawn prayers at the Martyrs' Mosque.

"I think there's going to be a war," he said. "Israel started it, but God willing, the Arabs will finish it." On the television, al-Jazeera broadcast video footage of the latest damage, and Ibrahim spoke again.

His tone had changed. "I just want to go home," he said.

Correspondents Scott Wilson in Jerusalem and John Ward Anderson in Gaza City, staff writer Joby Warrick in Washington and special correspondents Alia Ibrahim and Lynn Maalouf in Beirut and Rhonda Roumani in Damascus contributed to this report.