TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Israel threatened to expand air strikes deep into Lebanon, including Beirut, giving the military option the upper hand in the absence of a political settlement.
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said at press conference in north Israel Wednesday that the "matter of expanding the air offensive is on the agenda of the cabinet and will be approved today or in the next couple of days."
He said the IDF's qualitative operation in the ancient city of Baalbeck, a Hezbollah hotbed in east Lebanon, "was first and foremost aimed at affirming that we are capable of operating in all parts of Lebanon depending on military needs."
Halutz said Israeli troops "killed more than 10 Hezbollah fighters and seized five" in the three-hour operation during which airborne troops landed in Baalbeck shortly after midnight Wednesday.
"The Israeli military operations of such caliber will inflict on the Israeli army a certain cost," Halutz said, adding that "all options are open" with regard to how deep IDF operations will be carried out inside Lebanon.
Halutz stressed that the political objective of the military operation is to eliminate totally Hezbollah's rocket threat, backing projections of a long confrontation in light of Hezbollah's tough resistance and rejection of Israel's terms for a cease-fire.
Also Wednesday, a missile fired by Hezbollah fell in an open area of the West Bank, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with Lebanon. This is the furthest a missile fired by the guerilla group has reached since the start of the conflict in Lebanon.
The missile landed between Beit She'an, in the Jordan Valley, and the Palestinian city of Jenin. There were no injuries.
In northern Israel, 12 people were wounded and homes in four communities sustained direct rocket strikes.
