Israeli Forces Gather at Border

Israeli reserve soldiers have their M-16 rifles checked as they register for service in the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah fighters, in a position next to the Israeli town of Tsfat near the northern border with Lebanon, Friday July 21, 2006. Israel massed tanks and troops on the border, called up reserves and warned civilians to flee Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon as it prepared Friday for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone..(AP Photo/Oded Balilty) (Oded Balilty - AP)

Israeli warplanes also Friday struck Hezbollah targets near Al-Khiam and carried out repeated raids in and around Baalbek in the lush Bekaa Valley to the northeast. Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network, reported five civilians were killed and 20 were wounded, adding to a civilian death toll estimated by the Lebanese Health Ministry at more than 340.

Israeli jets also blasted three buses at the Lebanese-Syrian border that had just dropped off passengers fleeing to Damascus. Lebanese security officials said no one was injured. In all, Israeli warplanes carried out about 60 sorties, a military spokesman in Tel Aviv said.

The Beirut-Damascus highway, a vital artery for Lebanon's economy, has come under repeated attack by Israeli warplanes, forcing travelers to take back routes over the jagged mountains. Jets firing volleys of air-to-ground missiles Friday further damaged a key bridge connecting two steep hillsides that had shaved half an hour off the trip between the two capitals. The bridge's 1.6-mile span, the country's longest, was completed only several years ago and was regarded as a particularly proud symbol of Lebanon's recovery from the destruction of previous wars.

The Israeli military did not specify how many reserve soldiers would have to report for duty in the new call-up. But Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, head of the northern command, said it was "not an all-out, comprehensive mobilization."

Military officials, speaking on background, said initially at least the call-up would affect three battalions, which a spokesman said amounts to "several thousand" soldiers. Most will be assigned to the West Bank and Gaza, they said, to free better-trained full-time soldiers for duty along the Lebanese border.

Israeli army officials said ground operations inside Lebanon involve small squads and engineering units scouting for Hezbollah bunkers, weapons cashes, rocket launchers and tunnels. Troops remain within "several kilometers" of the line, a spokesman said.

Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the Israeli army chief of staff, told a news conference that Israel will do what is necessary to stop attacks from Hezbollah. That may include, he said, "limited ground operations as much as needed."

Capt. Noa Meir, a military spokeswoman, said the call-up and warnings to southern Lebanese civilians do not "necessarily mean that ground operations will get larger, but we have the option to do so, and if needed, we will."

Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon six years ago after a deeply unpopular 18-year-long occupation to enforce a buffer zone designed to keep Palestinian guerrillas and Hezbollah fighters away from Israel's northern border and keep their short-range missiles out of range. Apparently mindful of that memory, Adam, head of the Israeli northern command, said his forces do not intend to reoccupy the 12- to 20-mile-deep buffer zone, which Israel controlled from well before the 1982 invasion until the withdrawal in 2000. "Lebanon is Lebanon, and Israel is Israel," he said. But he added, "When normal life is disturbed, we need to neutralize the damage that is being caused to the population here."

A poll in Friday's Maariv newspaper showed overwhelming support for the war among Israeli citizens. Of those queried, 95 percent said the Israeli military campaign was justified and 90 percent said the attacks should continue until Hezbollah is pushed back from the border.

The poll also showed surging support for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with 78 percent voicing satisfaction with his leadership compared with 43 percent before the conflict began.

An Israeli radio station, al-Mashriq, repeatedly broadcast warnings to the civilian population of southern Lebanon, ordering people to flee northward. Israeli forces are determined to act, the radio said, and "therefore all residents of south Lebanon south of the Litani must leave their areas immediately for their own safety." Planes dropped leaflets with the same warnings, residents said.

Israeli warplanes have been firing on civilian cars and other vehicles regularly since the conflict began, and Lebanese trapped in the south said they feared they could become targets if they heed the warnings to flee. The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said during a visit to Beirut that France wants to open an air and sea supply line for delivery of relief to besieged Lebanese civilians. He demanded that Israeli forces agree to respect a "humanitarian corridor" that would allow international aid to reach the estimated 500,000 Lebanese who have been driven from their homes during the past 10 days of warfare.

A Greek warship in Beirut to pick up Greek nationals fleeing the fighting brought in boxes of aid supplies and unloaded them at the port. It was unclear whether the aid would reach the people who need it in southern Lebanon, however, because Israeli air attacks have made travel down the coastal road highly dangerous.

Anderson reported from Jerusalem. Correspondents Scott Wilson and Jonathan Finer in northern Israel contributed to this report.