Israeli troops, tanks line Lebanese border

Israeli tanks and troopsmoved tothe Lebanese border Friday aftera military radio broadcast warnedresidents of southern Lebanon to leave the area.

Amidthe signs ofa wider movement of ground forcesinto Lebanon than has taken place so far, the Israeli army's chief of staff said his forces would conductsuch operations as they deemed necessary.

"We will fight terror wherever it is because if we do not fight it, it will fight us. If we don't reach it, it will reach us," Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said in a nationally televised news conference.

"We will also conduct limited ground operations as much as needed in order to harm the terror that harms us."

The Israeli army was preparing to push the militant group back from the border to create a buffer zone, said the Al-Mashriq radio station, run by the Israeli military. The warning urged residents of 12 border villagesto leave.

The Israeli army has also called up hundreds of reserve troops for deployment to the north. The options before Israel include a large-scale ground invasion and pinpoint operations, aimed at specific Hezbollah targets, including tunnels, bunkers and missile launchers, military analysts say.

Israel has twice before invaded and occupied Lebanese territory, in 1978 and 1982.Reports quoting anonymous Israeli military sources say there are no plans for an extended Israeli presence on Lebanese territory, should an invasion take place as part of the current military campaign against Hezbollah.

Senior Israeli military officials said the offensive will not end until Israel canforceHezbollah to retreat beyond the Litani River, which runs about 30 kilometres north of the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Bombardment continues into 10th day

The fighting, which continuedfor a10th day on Friday, has killed at least 335 people in Lebanon and 34 people in Israel, including 19 soldiers. It has displaced an estimated half a million people.

Israeli forcescontinued to pound Hezbollah targets in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and south Lebanon, areas which are believed to be the group'sstrongholds, while Hezbollah continued to launch rocket attacks at northern Israel.

Hezbollah launched 11 rockets toward the Israeli city of Haifa on Friday. Five people were reported injured,two of them seriously, and 23others were treated for shock. Air raid sirens went off just before the first rocket hit, and smoke could be seen in the centre of the city and near the port.

Hezbollah said it has fired about 900 rockets into Israel in the past 10 days.

UN observation post hit

In other developments, a United Nations observation post near the border was hitFriday amid conflicting reports about where the attack originated.

The Israeli army said rockets fired by Hezbollah fighters fell short of their targets and landed on the observation post, which is located on the Israeli side of the border near the town of Zarit.

However, an official at the UN post, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said an Israeli artillery shell hit the building. Ghanaian troops stationed at the post were not injured

The offensive has prompted a massive evacuation of foreign nationals and a massive movement of Lebanese from the south into the north. Lebanese people have been streaming into Beirut.

Taxi drivers in the south were said to be charging exorbitant amounts for rides to the capital. In remote southern villages,where roads have beenrepeatedly hit by air strikes, residents reportedly left their homes to travel byfoot over the mountains.