IAF air strike on senior Hezbollah figure kills Lebanese soldier

The IDF Spokesperson said the strike, in the Qasmiyeh village north of the port city of Tyre, targeted a vehicle in which the Hezbollah figure was thought to have been traveling. The IDF expressed regret a Lebanese soldier was inadvertently killed in the strike.

The IAF also carried out air strikes Monday in support of ground troops operating near the south Lebanese village of Taibeh despite an agreement to halt raids for 48 hours, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The strikes were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area, and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the IDF said. Israel agreed to halt its air operations in Lebanon for two days after 56 Lebanese civilians were killed in a strike on Sunday in the village of Qana.

Three IDF soldiers were lightly wounded when Hezbollah gunmen fired anti-tank rockets at them during efforts to rescue a tank and a Puma vehicle that had been hit by Hezbollah fire during battles in Taibeh.

PM to debate military moves
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will convene the security cabinet at 9 P.M. Monday to approve the Israel Defense Forces' continued operations in Lebanon.

The IDF will present ministers with plans revised on the basis of a cease-fire that is expected to be announced this coming weekend.

The military on Sunday night implemented a 48-hour suspension of aerial activity, in the wake of a strike on a south Lebanon building, in which at least 56 people were killed, more than half of them children.

IDF ground operations will continue as before, however, and the army aims to complete the destruction of Hezbollah positions along the border by Thursday.

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