Heavy Fighting Rages in South Lebanon

In Jerusalem, U.N. officials said the Israeli airstrike that killed four observers Tuesday was carried out despite repeated pleas throughout the day for the Israelis to hold their fire. An initial U.N. assessment found that commanders of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, made 10 calls to Israeli military officials Tuesday over six hours, asking them to stop shelling in the vicinity of the post, and Israeli officers gave assurances that they would, U.N. officials said.

Nevertheless, 17 Israeli bombs fell within one kilometer, or .6 miles, of the post during the day, the initial U.N. investigation found. In addition, 12 Israeli artillery rounds landed within 150 meters of the post, four of them hitting it directly.

"If Israel had heeded these requests to stop, the four observers would be alive today," a U.N. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The behavior that led to this tragedy falls into a pattern of Israel inadequately responding to U.N. requests not to fire on its posts."

The U.N. official noted that the strike came at a time when Israel was expressing interest in the future deployment of a multinational force along its border, one with the capability to confront Hezbollah guerrillas dug in on the other side.

"What kind of a signal does this send to potential troop contributors?" the official asked.

In Beirut, aid officials said Israeli authorities have agreed to allow regular shipment of goods into Beirut by sea and air, softening a two-week blockade.

Taking swift advantage of the change, two Jordanian C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft landed at Beirut International Airport Wednesday morning, the first planes to use the facility since it was bombed by Israel at the outset of the conflict. A third transport was scheduled to land Wednesday evening, according to Richard Mougaes, ground manager at the airport for Lebanon's flag carrier, Middle East Airlines.

Their arrival was welcomed by aid officials, who expressed hope that it marked the beginning of a large flow of humanitarian supplies into the Lebanese capital. But the Israeli military so far has refused to guarantee the safety of relief trucks to move supplies down the coastal highway, which has been badly damaged by bombing, the officials said. Instead, they said, the Israeli military has required aid agencies to negotiate the route of each shipment on a convoy-by-convoy basis, despite repeated pleas for a safe-conduct guarantee along the coastal road.

"It will be excellent if we have this flow into Beirut, but the problem remains to get the assistance to the south where it is needed," said Hisham Hassan, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut.

The Red Cross has moved five convoys of relief supplies southward so far, four to Tyre and one to Marjayoun, he said, each one with a specific route authorized by Israeli military authorities. The first U.N. relief convoy to move supplies south reached Tyre late Wednesday with 90 tons of wheat, soap, diapers, water purification tablets and emergency medical kits, U.N. officials said. The 10-truck convoy was required to navigate tortuous back mountain roads, making a six-hour trip out of what normally takes less than half that down the main coastal highway, according to a U.N. spokeswoman, Pascale Qassis.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees complained it has relief supplies for more than 20,000 people stacked up in Syria awaiting Israeli authorization for transport into Lebanon and distribution to the southern Lebanese towns and villages that have borne the brunt of Israel's air assaults. Tim Irwin, a UNHCR spokesman in Washington, said the backed-up supplies include blankets, mattresses and cooking equipment.

"For now, we've got several thousand tons waiting in Syria," he said.

Cody reported from Beirut. Branigin reported from Washington. Correspondent Scott Wilson reported from Jerusalem. Correspondent John Ward Anderson contributed from Jerusalem. Staff writer Fred Barbash contributed from Washington.