Israelis Authorize Expansion Of Combat

The majority of the soldiers have been fighting in a narrow strip ranging from a few hundred yards to about four miles into Lebanon, though a few units are operating about 12 miles deep and an advance team is near the outskirts of Tyre, according to military officials.

The military has proposed opening the front across a 13-mile-deep swath of southern Lebanon to the Litani River, a strategic geographical line.

But after more than four weeks of air and ground combat, soldiers are still struggling to control some villages they claimed to have seized more than two weeks ago.

Eli Yishai, the Israeli trade minister, said the military estimated it will need 30 days to conduct an operation that deep into Lebanon.

"I think it will take a lot longer," said Yishai, who abstained from voting on the decision to authorize a widening of the operation.

Yishai told reporters he abstained because he believes the military should prolong its air campaign against rocket launchers. "In my opinion, entire villages should be eliminated from the air when we have verified information that Katyusha rockets are being fired from there," he said.

Nine cabinet members voted to allow Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to decide the timing of an accelerated ground campaign, and three members abstained. Much of the debate centered on the risk of high troop casualties associated with expanding the number of ground forces in southern Lebanon.

Government officials familiar with details of Wednesday's cabinet meeting, and the Israeli news media, reported that the session included several emotional outbursts, shouting matches and sharp exchanges between ministers. In one incident, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz -- Israel's former defense minister -- criticized Peretz's plan for an expanded operation as unnecessarily far-reaching. Peretz lashed out at Mofaz, accusing him of allowing the buildup of Hezbollah during his term as defense minister, according to numerous accounts. Olmert reportedly stepped in to calm the quarrel.

During the cabinet meeting, Olmert telephoned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to Israeli and U.S. officials. During their half-hour conversation, Rice did not ask Olmert to hold back on the ground assault. "He can judge for himself how close or not to a resolution we are or how acceptable or unacceptable it is," a senior U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "She talked him through where we are, what we're going through and where we hope to end up. It's the same conversation she had with Siniora."

At least 13 of the 15 Israeli soldiers killed Wednesday were reservists, as were 23 of the 25 wounded.

"There has been very fierce fighting all the day in different parts of southern Lebanon," said Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz, an Israeli army spokesman. He said "tens" of Hezbollah militants had been killed in the fighting Tuesday, which was still raging well after dark.

[Early Thursday, the Associated Press cited Israel Army Radio reporting heavy battles in south Lebanese villages across from Israel's Galilee panhandle, which has been hard hit by rockets. Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in "a violent confrontation" with Israeli forces advancing on a border village. No details were immediately available.