Christian Heartland in Northeast Lebanon Pierced by Air Strikes

Northeast Lebanon’s Christian heartland has been hit with a wave of air strikes by Israeli forces for the first time Friday, severing its last major highway link to the outside world. The attack killed 33 agricultural workers.

|PIC1|Meanwhile, Hezbollah militants responded by firing missiles that exploded just 30 miles north of Tel Aviv, the farthest they have reached into Israel.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 48 people, including the 33 farm workers, were killed in Lebanon in about 90 Israeli air strikes.

A spokesman said the targets included an underground Hezbollah operations room, a weapons-storage facility, a recruiting centre, a meeting site and the offices of a newspaper linked to the group.

At the United Nations, negotiations between the U.S. and France over a plan to end the hostilities continued. Spokesmen for countries involved in the talks said some progress was made and that an agreement could be reached over the weekend. Arab League ministers were scheduled to meet Monday in Beirut to "express solidarity" with the people of Lebanon.

"This was our only lifeline. Is that enough to tell you?" said Khalid Mansour, spokesman for the United Nations in Beirut. "After the destruction of these bridges, the main road for all humanitarian supplies that come by land, except for the small quantities that come by air, is now cut."|TOP|

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud accused Israel of waging a "war of starvation" against civilians.

"The Israeli enemy's bombing of bridges and roads are aimed at tightening the blockade on the Lebanese, cutting communications between them and starving them.... Israel has now decided to destroy Lebanon," the president said in a statement.

Israel said it hit the bridges to halt the alleged flow of weapons from Syria.

"Because the most direct arteries have been blocked, they are using more indirect means," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army. "These bridges, unfortunately, served as a conduit for this re-supply from Syria. We are not going to allow missiles to be transported southward and used to kill our citizens."

|AD|The worst reported violence Friday in Lebanon was in the village of Qaa, in the Bekaa Valley about three miles from the Syrian border, where Israeli officials said they launched strikes against what they believed to be a weapons storage site. Truck traffic was observed between the area and the Syrian border, said an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"People don't see eye to eye with Hezbollah on all things, but this is a question of an attack on Lebanon," said Farid Khazen, a Christian member of parliament.

"People are not interested in details, who did what and why. They are simply fed up," he said. "There won't be any split in Lebanon on this war, and if this was Israel's intention, it was completely silly and ridiculous."

Thousands of people from across Britain are expected to join in an anti-war demonstration in London’s Hyde Park today in a grassroots effort to bring an end to the crisis in Lebanon.

Christians will be among the demonstrators who will call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon during the event.

The marching route will see them pass the US embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square.