Israel struck a Lebanese army base outside Beirut and flattened a house near the border, killing at least 16 people in a new wave of bombings, while Hezbollah fired more rockets at northern Israel. Diplomats stepped up efforts to end the conflict, which has sent foreigners fleeing by land, sea and air.

Meanwhile, a new barrage of Hezbollah rockets pounded northern Israel, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. The rockets hit the northern town of Nahariya. Air raid sirens also sounded in the city of Haifa.

An Israeli soldier signals to others next to the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in the northern Israeli city of Shlomi near the Lebanese border, Tuesday July 18, 2006. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israeli towns from the Lebanese border since fighting began on July 12, forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis to take cover in underground shelters or flee to the south. [AP]

A cruise ship, the Orient Queen, was due to begin evacuating some of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon on Tuesday, and the Pentagon said a U.S. Naval destroyer was available to escort it. U.S. military helicopters have already ferried about a score of U.S. citizens to a British base on the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus. More helicopter transfers were planned, a U.S. official said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel will press on with the weeklong offensive until its captured soldiers are released and its citizens are safe from attacks.

"Israel will continue to combat Hezbollah and will continue to strike targets of the group," Olmert said in a statement.

The base in the southern area of Kfar Chima took a direct hit as the soldiers rushed to their bomb shelters, leaving at least 11 soldiers dead and 35 wounded, the Lebanese military said.

The Lebanese army has largely stayed out of the fighting, but its positions have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli warplanes, undermining Israel's call for it to help push back Hezbollah from the border.

At least five people also were killed when a bomb hit a house in the village of Aitaroun, near the border with Israel, witnesses said. Israeli warplanes also fired four missiles on the eastern city of Baalbek, wounding four, and southern Beirut - both Hezbollah strongholds, according to witnesses and news reports. Another attack targeted the southern town of Qana, Lebanese TV reported.

The Islamic militant group fired rockets that knocked down a three-story house in northern Israel, but no casualties were immediately reported.

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