BEIRUT, July 13: Israel blockaded Lebanese ports and struck Beirut airport and two military airbases on Thursday, expanding reprisals that have killed 53 civilians in Lebanon since Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

Israeli helicopter gunships late Thursday unleashed missiles on Beirut international airport, setting fuel storage tanks ablaze in the second attack on Lebanon’s only international air facility, Lebanese security officials said.

One helicopter gunship raked the fuel depots with machine gun fire while three others fired air-to-surface missiles, the officials added. Officials said about a dozen projectiles struck the tanks on the eastern edge of the airport premises, and that several others missed.

TV footage showed flames shooting high up into the night air from the airport.

Firefighters were reluctant to reach the site because of continuing Israeli air activity.

Israeli planes also dropped leaflets on the southern suburbs of Beirut near the airport, stronghold of Hezbollah where its main leaders are based, calling on residents to avoid areas where Hezbollah operates.

“For your own safety and out of our wish to avoid harming the civilians who are not involved, you should refrain from being present in areas where Hezbollah exists and operates,” said the leaflets signed the State of Israel.

Israeli officials have warned that south Beirut, and even the capital itself, were not immune from attack.

In an early Thursday morning raid, warplanes punched holes in the Beirut airport’s three runways, forcing the facility to close. Government officials inspected the damage later and said they could start repairs and Lebanon’s only international air terminal could be fully functional in two days.

HIZBOLLAH: Hizbollah fighters rained more than 80 rockets on northern Israel in their heaviest bombardment in a decade, hitting Israel’s third largest city, Haifa, the Israeli army said.

Israeli ambassador to the United States Daniel Ayalon told reporters in Washington the strike on Haifa was a “major, major escalation” but Hizbollah denied it had fired a rocket at Haifa.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Haifa, a major port of 250,000 people. One woman was killed and 43 people wounded in the other rocket attacks, Israeli medics said.

US President George W. Bush voiced concern about the fate of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian government, but offered no direct criticism of the punishment Israel is meting out. “Israel has the right to defend herself,” he said in Germany. “Secondly, whatever Israel does should not weaken the ... government in Lebanon.”

Sustained air strikes in south Lebanon killed over 50 civilians and wounded 110 people, security sources said. Ten family members were killed in Dweir village and seven family members died in Baflay. A Lebanese soldier was also killed. The Lebanese information minister said after an emergency cabinet meeting that Lebanon wanted a comprehensive ceasefire and an end to “this open-ended aggression” by Israel.—Reuters

US vetoes resolution

By Masood Haider

UNITED NATIONS: The United States used its veto power to kill a watered down Qatari resolution tabled in the 15-member UN Security Council, which called on Palestinians to release the Israeli soldier and demanded that Israel to halt its incursion into Gaza on Thursday.