BEIRUT, 18 July 2006: Forty-seven people, including 12 civilians hit on a bridge, were killed across Lebanon on the sixth day of Israeli air strikes yesterday.

Rescuers also pulled 10 bodies from the wreckage of a building in Tyre that was bombed on Sunday.

Yesterday's deaths raised the toll since Israel's offensive began to above 200.

Israeli planes hit coastal targets in the north and south, struck Beirut and damaged homes in the east belonging to members of Hizbollah, which fired more rockets deep into Israel.

A Hizbollah rocket launcher was hit as the militia was preparing to fire a long-range, Iranian-made rocket.

Blasts rocked Beirut through the day and smoke rose from a blazing fuel depot. Civilian installations, petrol stations and factories were also hit.

Three Israeli tanks briefly crossed a few hundred metres into Lebanese territory, following a similar incursion overnight.

"I can't believe they are doing all this for two captives. This is just an excuse," said Ali Sharara, 21, who fled his home in south Beirut to sleep in a city park for the last two nights.

The fighting was triggered when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers last Wednesday.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=149651&Sn=WORL&IssueID=29120