JERUSALEM - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks in Israel on Saturday to seek a deal on an international force to end fighting in Lebanon as Hezbollah threatened more missile attacks deeper into Israel.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to carry out more attacks if Israel did not end an offensive launched after the guerrilla group captured two soldiers in a raid on July 12.
"Rice is returning to the region to try to impose her conditions on Lebanon again to serve her new Middle East project and to serve Israel," Nasrallah said in a televised address, as Rice made her second trip to Israel this week.
Rice, who dined with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday evening, said earlier she hoped for agreement on the main conditions for a ceasefire to be outlined in a U.N. resolution that could be tabled as early as Tuesday.
"I expect the discussions to be difficult, but there will have to be give and take," Rice told reporters.
"I assume and have every reason to believe that leadership on both sides of this crisis would like to see it end."
Citing political sources, Israel Radio said Rice and Olmert had discussed humanitarian aid to Lebanon, how to secure the release of Israel's captured soldiers and efforts at the U.N. Security Council to agree the mandate of an international force.
But they did not discuss a timetable for a ceasefire, radio said. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he sees agreement on peacekeepers in days, clearing the way for a ceasefire.
Rice will meet other Israeli ministers on Sunday and could hold talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora later on her trip. She is liaising closely with the U.S. ambassador in Beirut who is dealing directly with Lebanese officials.
Fighting Continues
At least 475 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in the conflict, and 51 Israelis have died.
In the latest fighting, an Israeli air strike killed a woman and six children in a house in the southern village of Nmeiriya, medics said. Another strike also wounded two Indian soldiers with the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
Israel dismissed a U.N. proposal for a three-day truce to aid civilians trapped by fighting, saying it was already allowing aid shipments through its blockade of Lebanon. It has allowed a U.N. envoy access to the military to coordinate aid.
Meanwhile, Israel's forces pulled out of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil, just across the border, that was scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the 18-day conflict.
Rice praised Siniora for securing an agreement on Thursday with Hezbollah cabinet members in Lebanon to seek an immediate ceasefire that would include the disarming of militias.
Siniora says the main issues to be resolved include Israel's occupation of the disputed Shebaa Farms area, claimed by Lebanon, and its detention of Lebanese prisoners.
In a softening of Israel's position that could help Rice steer the sides toward a ceasefire, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Israel would not demand the immediate disarming of Hezbollah, although it still wants it disarmed eventually.
The official said Israel would demand that the proposed international peacekeeping force in south Lebanon keep Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and prevent the group from replenishing its stockpile of rockets from Syria and Iran.
Hezbollah would almost certainly reject a peacekeeping force whose mandate calls for its disarmament.
France to Lead Force?
The United Nations has called a meeting in New York on Monday to get troop contributions for an international force, which could be 15,000-20,000 strong, even though its mandate has yet to be set by the Security Council.
President Jacques Chirac of France, which has emerged as the potential leader of the force, said troops could not be sent until there is a ceasefire accompanied by a political deal.
Hezbollah launched long-range missiles deeper into Israel on Friday, fulfilling Nasrallah's pledge to hit targets further south than Israel's third largest city Haifa.
Guerrillas fired more than 90 rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday, lightly wounding about a dozen people, the army and medics said. They have launched more than 1,500 rockets into Israel since the conflict started.
President Bush blames the conflict on Hezbollah and its main allies, Syria and Iran.
"We must recognize that Lebanon is the latest flashpoint in a broader struggle between freedom and terror that is unfolding across the region," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
An Israeli air strike closed Lebanon's main crossing point to Syria on Saturday for the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, security sources said. The strike was to stop weapon supplies routes to Hezbollah from Syria, army officials said.
Israel said its forces had killed around 70 to 80 Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon in recent days. Hezbollah says only 31 of its fighters have died in the war.
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