Explosions rock Lebanon, Israel

Israeli air strikes spurred large explosions in the Lebanese cities of Beirut, Sidon and Tyre on Sunday, killing civilians and forcing thousands of people to flee on the twelfth day of violence byIsrael and Hezbollah militants.

Meanwhile, the Lebanon-based militants continued to launch volleys ofrockets into northern Israel, killing at least two people in one attack on the city of Haifa.

Lebanese security officials said Israeli troops continued to hold a Lebanese border village on Sunday that theyseized a day earlier when they escalated the offensive by sending troops, tanks and bulldozers across the border.

Israeli fighter planes also struck a minibus carrying Lebanese who have been fleeing the strikes along the southern border, killing three people and wounding 13 others, Lebanese security forces said.

Theattack on the southern port of Sidon was the first in the campaign. Israeli missiles levelled a religious complex linked to Hezbollah and wounded four people.

In the border town of al-Manara, one person was killed and two wounded when Israeli troops bombed a textile factory.

Not invading Lebanon: Israeli defence minister

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz dismissed criticisms that theland, sea and air offensive was an invasion of Lebanon, calling it instead aseries of limited raids into areas where Hezbollah militants have been most active.

"We try to hit only launchers, only [Hezbollah] bunkers and members," Peretz said. "We call the civilians to leave the villages, to leave the south."

Israel launched the air campaign after Hezbollah crossed the border into Israel on July 12 and attacked an army outpost, killing eight soldiers and capturing two others.

The military has mostly pounded Hezbollah strongholds, the Shia Muslim regions of southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.

Peretz confirmed that more troops would be deployed in southern Lebanon, saying the attacks would continue until Hezbollah had been pushed away from the border.

Senior Israeli military officials said the offensive would continue until Israel forces Hezbollah to retreat beyond the Litani River, which runs about 30 kilometres north of the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Half-million people displaced by attacks

In Israel, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to the south as Hezbollah rockets slammed into a road and damaged a house in the city of Haifa. Two people were killed and 13 others wounded in the attacks in northern Israel, part of an estimated 1,000 rockets fired byHezbollah since July 12.

Meanwhile, at least375 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least eight Canadians who died when Israel bombed a village in southern Lebanon.

Israel's death toll stood at 36 on Sunday, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 19 soldiers killed in combat.

The attacks have displaced an estimated half a million people, including thousands of Canadians who are among the foreigners fleeing Lebanon.