U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch met with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to discuss a U.N. Security Council Resolution drafted by France, which aims at finding a solution to the conflict.

In spite of the stepped up diplomatic effort, the fighting on the ground showed no signs of abating.

Israel launched its heaviest bombardment of southern Lebanon since its offensive began, carrying out 250 air raids and firing some 4,000 shells on the region, security sources said.

Pre-dawn Israeli air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs killed three people and destroyed more buildings in the areas, large sections of which have already been reduced to rubble.

In the first account of the Israeli commando operation, Hezbollah claimed its fighters killed an Israeli soldier and wounded many. But Israel countered with a different version of the outcome.

"Guided by very precise intelligence, navy commandos entered an apartment on the second floor of a five-story building in the north of Tyre, where they killed at least three Hezbollah leaders," a senior Israeli navy official told the news agencies.

"These three men were notably responsible for firing a missile against the city of Hadera" late Friday, he said, without elaborating.

There was no immediate reaction to the claim from Hezbollah.
Friday evening's strike on the town of Hadera, 70 kilometers from the border, was the group's deepest hit into Israel.

The Israeli army said eight of its troops were wounded in the Tyre operation and that two were in serious condition.

A Lebanese soldier was also killed in the raid after his unit hit Israeli helicopters with anti-aircraft fire, security sources said.

Lebanese military officials said the Israeli commando landed near an orange grove, cut a hole through a barbed wire fence and targeted the second floor apartment in a building. The flat received a direct hit and blood could be seen on the window of the apartment, the officers said.

The Israeli navy official said a fierce battle occurred during which
"there were point-blank exchanges of fire and grenades were thrown inside the apartment."

"Our commandos were able to retreat and to hit with counterstrikes six to eight terrorists from neighboring buildings, killing some of them, and to return to Israel with aviation support," the official.

General Udi Adam, chief of Israel's northern command, told public radio that army special forces targeted Tyre "to kill top Hezbollah officials and to destroy arms caches" in the area.

"There have been, and will continue to be, other operations of this kind," he said.

The operation was preceded by intense bombardments of villages south and east of the city which have already largely emptied of their inhabitants.

Israeli troops have been advancing from at least seven points on the border to establish a buffer zone that Adam said is now up to 10 kilometers deep.

Saturday's bombardment of the south lasted for seven hours from dawn with the worst hit region the area around the village of Aitaroun which was hit by 2,000 shells.

Security sources said that 15 villages some five kilometers from the border were being systematically destroyed by the bombing with the aim of laying the ground for the border zone.

In fighting around the village of Taibe not far from the border, one soldier was killed and another lightly wounded, an Israeli army spokesman said.

In Beirut's southern suburbs, warplanes leveled two buildings in Hay Madi killing the three Sudanese workers who were sleeping in one of them, security official said. Their bodies are still buried under the rubble, they added.

A witness said the bombing flattened said a 9-story building in Rweiss and partly leveled another in Bir al Abed sparking a huge fire there.

In downtown Beirut, several hundred angry demonstrators gathered at Riyad al Solh Square to protest against Welch's visit. Scores of troops and internal security forces stood guard to prevent them from reaching the government seat at the Grand Serail where Welch met with Siniora.

The U.S. official earlier met with Berri at his house in Ain al Tineh but made no comment to the press. The speaker is acting as an intermediary to Hezbollah in any negotiations on the crisis

Source: Naharnet, Ya Libnan