BEIRUT, Lebanon -- There are efforts on the diplomatic front on Tuesday morning to resolve a week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
A U.N. envoy in Jerusalem said Israel has been given concrete proposals and said a cease-fire is possible.
And Israel's public security minister said on Tuesday that a prisoner swap to win release of two soldiers may be considered but only after Israel's military campaign is completed.
Israel's foreign minister told reporters there's a need to keep Iran and Syria from arming Hezbollah in the future.
At the same time, Iran's parliament speaker told at an anti-Israeli demonstration in Tehran that no part of Israel is safe from guerrilla rockets.
And still there was more fighting on Tuesday.
Eleven Lebanese soldiers were killed and 35 hurt in an overnight airstrike, as Israel continued its attacks on Beirut and northern Lebanon.
Explosions reverberated across Beirut.
Missile Destroyed
Israeli warplanes successfully destroyed a Hezbollah missile Monday during an airstrike on Lebanon, Israeli authorities said. Planes targeted a truck that was carrying weapons, and the force of the blast sent at least one missile into the air, though it fell nearby.
Hezbollah has repeatedly fired missiles up to 25 miles into Israel, where officials have been concerned about a longer-range missile made by Iran. The fear was it could hit crowded Tel Aviv, which is some 80 miles south of the Lebanese border.
American Evacuations Begin
A separate story on American evacuations from Lebanon can be found by
clicking here.
Cease-Fire Terms Aired
A cease-fire could come about "in nanoseconds" if Hezbollah releases two Israeli soldiers and steps back from the Israeli border, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said Monday.
A senior Israeli government official said similar terms have been offered in turn for an ending the bombardment of Lebanon.
The official, who asked not to be named, said those conditions were conveyed to Italian diplomats trying to broker a deal. Israel has previously made the full dismantling of Hezbollah a condition for a stand-down.
Russia and the European Union said they would consider contributing to a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, as proposed by Britain and the United Nations.
In the meantime, Hezbollah's backers, Iran and Syria, said they think a cease-fire followed by a prisoner swap is the "fair" way to go. Syria and Iran have previously applauded Hezbollah's capture of the two Israeli soldiers. Israel accused Syria and Iran of providing the guerrillas with sophisticated weapons.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan have urged the deployment of an international force to stop Hezbollah's bombardment of Israel and to persuade the Jewish state to stop its retaliatory attacks on Hezbollah.
Israeli ground troops entered southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah bases Monday, but made a rapid return to Israeli soil. Israeli forces are also attacking suspected launch sites of long-range Hezbollah missiles and unmanned drone aircraft.
Hezbollah continues firing rockets into Israeli communities south of the border. More rockets hit the coastal city of Haifa on Monday but caused no injuries and only minor damage. On Sunday, eight people were killed when a rocket struck the train station in Haifa, which is Israel's third-largest city.
Lebanese security officials said Israeli artillery and planes killed 17 people and wounded at least 53 others in overnight attacks. The death toll from six days of fighting has climbed past 200 on both sides.
Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets overnight in retribution for a barrage of 20 rockets on Haifa. Israeli medics said one round destroyed a three-story building and wounded three people.
The southern Beirut neighborhood where Hezbollah has its headquarters was targeted by Israel bombers. In the neighborhood where members of the militant group live, work and operate, clinics, schools and social clubs have been destroyed by repeated airstrikes over the past few days. The port was also struck again.
Witnesses also reported waves of Israeli airstrikes Monday on the Lebanese city of Tripoli and Hezbollah strongholds in the eastern town of Baalbek.
Israel Denies Plane Crashed
A Lebanese TV station showed video Monday of an object falling from the sky, but Israel said that reports that it was an Israeli aircraft were false.
The video, aired by Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., showed a burning object spiraling down to the ground in the Jamhour district near the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut, which has been under Israeli air attack for several days.
It described the object as an F-16 fighter jet, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said the aircraft was a helicopter gunship.
But the Israeli army said reports of Israeli aircraft being shot down over Beirut are false, and Israel's Channel 10 TV reported that the object apparently was a container of leaflets that fell from an Israeli military plane.
Israel has been dropping propaganda leaflets over areas of Lebanon during its incursion, sometimes in a bid to warn residents of an impending airstrike.
Iraq's Top Shiite Cleric Urges World To Rescue Lebanon
Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said Monday that what is happening in Lebanon is "outrageous injustice." He said the world should stop what he said is Israel's "flagrant aggression."
Al-Sistani has many followers in Lebanon.
Israel Still Pressing In Gaza
Israel's 3-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip continued with another devastating attack on the Palestinian Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City.
The attack early Monday was the second on the building in less than a week. Nine people were injured and dozens of nearby houses were damaged.
The Israeli operation against Gaza began June 28 in response to an attack by Hamas-linked militants on an army post in Israel. Two soldiers were killed and a third was captured.
Israel Monday also fired missiles at Palestinian militants in northern Gaza.
On yet another front, an Israeli soldier was killed and six others wounded when Palestinian militants detonated explosives as the troops were carrying out a routine patrol in the West Bank city of Nablus. Reportedly among those hurt was the son of the commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank.
Rockets Drive Pilgrims Away From Sea Of Galilee
The warfare in Lebanon has spilled over into the land of Jesus' boyhood, making a normally tranquil part of the Holy Land suddenly dangerous for pilgrims.
A Hezbollah missile struck Upper Nazareth Sunday night and three rockets hit Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee on Saturday.
At least two houses in Tiberias were hit, causing minor injuries. Residents were ordered into bomb shelters, and Israeli news media reported that hundreds of tourists were fleeing. Police used megaphones to urge bathers at the Sea of Galilee to seek shelter.
Jen Zielinski of the Church of Scotland, which operates a hotel in Tiberias, said northern Israel usually offers pigrims a respite from the tensions they encounter in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. But she said , "The picture in Tiberias has changed, and we find ourselves caught up in something without control."
Pope Laments Conflict
Pope Benedict XVI expressed concern over the intensified fighting in Israel and Lebanon. Speaking to a gathering of pilgrims Sunday during a visit to the Italian Alps, Benedict denounced both terrorism in the Holy Land and Israel's retaliation.
He also lamented the civilian deaths there and appealed for "a return to the path of reason."
The pope prayed for God to grant what he termed "the fundamental gift of harmony" to open "new possibilities for dialogue and understanding."
The head of the Roman Catholic church urged parishes everywhere to pray for peace in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East.
Lebanon has a large Maronite Catholic population.
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