Israel May Expand Ground Combat

JERUSALEM, Aug. 11 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday authorized the military to expand its ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, but will ask his cabinet Sunday to accept a U.N. Security Council resolution for ending the fighting, according to government officials.

Olmert's decision to increase ground combat came as Israeli public criticism of both the government and the military leadership escalated, with a new poll showing that only 20 percent of Israelis surveyed believe they are winning the war and one of the nation's most prominent newspapers declaring in a front-page headline: "Olmert must go."

Government officials said Olmert told the military to begin preparations for accelerated ground operations at about 5 p.m. Friday after seeing a draft of the U.N. resolution that he said he could not accept.

"What really triggered this decision was that apparently the Lebanese government -- under the pressure of Hezbollah -- managed to change the draft of the U.N. resolution in the afternoon," said Avi Pazner, a senior Israeli government spokesman.

But Olmert did not reverse the orders to the military after agreeing to a revised draft circulated later in the evening, according to a senior Israeli official.

"Right now the military has the green light," the official said.

Israeli government officials said the directive could be rescinded Sunday, depending on the cabinet action. It is unlikely the military could escalate ground combat operations significantly before Sunday because of the time required to move troops into new positions in the hilly terrain of southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah fighters are putting up fierce resistance.

In Lebanon, Israeli warplanes Friday evening strafed a column of cars and trucks evacuating people out of the southern town of Marjayoun, killing four people and wounding more than 23, according to George Kettaneh, head of the emergency rescue unit of the Lebanese Red Cross. The Associated Press reported seven deaths in the attack.

Before they were hit, a group of about 350 soldiers and Lebanese police from the Marjayoun barracks had begun a carefully orchestrated evacuation early Friday with peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, according to international relief workers and Gen. Adnan Daoud, who accompanied the convoy from Marjayoun. He said Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat had insisted that civilians wishing to evacuate be allowed to accompany the convoy.

"When the shelling began, contacts were made with UNIFIL to put an end to the intense strafing," said Kettaneh of the Red Cross.

"We don't know of anything that was attacked there. We're still checking," an Israeli military spokeswoman said Friday night.

Israeli troops engaged in gun battles across a thin strip of territory along the Lebanese border where they have been fighting for weeks.