Dozens of activists protesting the Israeli presence in Lebanon and demanding unconditional withdrawal rallied Sunday in Tel Aviv and blocked streets until they were dispersed by police. A small but growing group, they plan more demonstrations today.
In Washington, the Clinton administration deplored Sunday's violence and urged that both sides exercise "maximum restraint."
In raids that were continuing late Sunday, Israeli fighter jets reportedly bombarded Hezbollah positions in eastern and southern Lebanon and south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Targets included what Israeli officials described as a principal Hezbollah command-and-control headquarters in the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon. Lebanese reports claimed that Israeli shells had landed near a government hospital in a Baalbek residential neighborhood.
Israel said it also bombed a Hezbollah training camp and an arms depot.
The ambush that prompted the airstrikes struck an Israeli army convoy in the Israeli-controlled "security zone" in southern Lebanon. Brig. Gen. Erez Gerstein, 38, and Voice of Israel radio reporter Ilon Roeh, 32, were traveling in an armored Mercedes-Benz that was blown up when Hezbollah guerrillas set off a bomb alongside the road.
Hezbollah's armed wing said it detonated a second bomb about 20 minutes later when Israeli reinforcements arrived. Also killed were Gerstein's driver, a 10-year veteran of the brigade stationed in southern Lebanon, and a 22-year-old soldier.
Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, in a statement issued in Beirut, said the bombing "will undoubtedly be the start of a great turning point in the operations of the resistance and the hopes of the people."
Gerstein was the Israeli army's liaison officer with Israel's proxy South Lebanon Army, and as such was Israel's highest-ranking officer permanently based in Lebanon.
He had earlier survived several close calls, including at least one attack that appeared to target him specifically. But Sunday's explosion seemed more likely part of a pattern in which Hezbollah is increasingly able to penetrate Israeli-occupied areas and plant land mines or ambush patrols.
The Israelis too have become more aggressive in recent months. But the rugged, tree-covered terrain has made it difficult for Israeli forces to use their superior technology to rout the guerrillas once and for all.
