Israel tightens noose around Lebanon

Beirut (Lebanon): Waves of warplanes thundering through the darkness bombed Beirut's southern suburbs for hours early on Sunday, a day after Israel stepped up its air strikes and tightened a noose around this reeling nation.

The Israeli air force on Saturday hit strongholds of the Hezbollah Shiite Muslim guerrilla group, bombed central Beirut for the first time, and pounded seaports and a key bridge.

Then, after midnight, about 18 powerful explosions rocked southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered and much of the air assault has been aimed since cross-border hostilities erupted Wednesday.

Israeli jets could be heard over the city, much of it darkened because air strikes have knocked out power stations and the fuel depots feeding them.

Warplanes bombed the Jiyeh power station about 12 miles south of Beirut on Sunday. Firefighters said they didn't have enough water to put out the fire and appealed on Lebanese radio for people who own water tanks to help.

Hezbollah's TV aired footage showing two long columns of smoke rising from buildings into the night sky. Much of Shiite-populated southern Beirut was deserted, its residents having fled east to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

Trying to defuse the violence, which began when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid, Lebanon's prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah - a move that might risk civil war.

In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping launch a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge both Hezbollah and Iran denied.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired barrages of rockets ever deeper into Israel.

Several rockets launched by Lebanese guerillas pounded the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding many others, police said.

Rockets fired by Lebanese militants also hit the northern town of Acco, and residents of the region were told to head to bomb shelters.

The death toll in the four-day-old conflict rose above 100 in Lebanon, and stood at 15 in Israel. Hezbollah denied Israeli media reports that its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, was hurt in an airstrike on Sunday, the Al-Jazeera television said.