BEIRUT, Lebanon - An Israeli drone fired at a
convoy of refugees fleeing southern Lebanon on Friday night, killing at least
seven people and wounding 22, an Associated Press photographer said. The Israeli
military said it was investigating the incident.
The attack on the
convoy was the most dramatic on a day of fighting that saw Israeli airstrikes
pound south Beirut and border crossings to Syria, killing at least 15 others as
ground fighting picked up intensity in the south of the country. An Israeli
soldier was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, the army said.
Hezbollah sent another barrage of more than 150
rockets toward northern Israel. Rescue workers said eight people in the port of
Haifa were wounded by shrapnel.
The ongoing clashes have killed more than 800
people ¡ª including at least 741 Lebanese and 123 Israelis.
Lutfallah Daher, the photographer, was with the
convoy when it was hit near the Bekaa Valley town of Chtaura, about 30 miles
north of the Litani River. Israel has said it would attack any vehicle on roads
south of the Litani, assuming it was carrying Hezbollah weapons or
fighters.
The photographer said that when the convoy left
the Israeli-occupied town of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, it was made up of
more than 600 civilian vehicles in addition to vehicles carrying 350 Lebanese
soldiers and police. A few vehicles had left the convoy before it was hit, the
photographer said.
Daher lives in Marjayoun and was fleeing with
his wife in one car. His mother, brother, sister-in-law and their child were in
another car. None was harmed.
Two armored U.N. peacekeeping vehicles were to
have accompanied the convoy, Daher said, but were not present when Israeli
forces in Marjayoun gave the convoy permission to head north. Israeli tanks and
infantry took control of Marjayoun on Thursday.
Israel's military said no convoys had been
coordinated with the army.
The region around Marjayoun, a mainly Christian
town, was hit by Israeli warplanes and artillery during and after the Israeli
advance.
In other developments Friday:
Polls indicated that the Israeli government is
losing domestic support for its conduct of the conflict against Hezbollah, and
doubt is growing among Israelis that they are winning the war. One survey, by
the independent Dahaf Institute, said Olmert's personal approval rating dropped
from 73 percent to 66 percent.
The U.N.'s World Food Program said civilians
cut off by fighting in south Lebanon find themselves in increasingly desperate
conditions as the region remains inaccessible to aid agencies.
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said the
anger on all sides in the Middle East is the greatest he has seen in two decades
of trying to help the troubled region make peace.