AERIAL ASSAULTS ON UPSWING NEAR LEBANON-SYRIA BORDER.

Byline: Tarek Al-Issawi Associated Press 

Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian guerrillas Thursday near the Syrian border and stepped up pressure on Lebanese civilians by targeting vital roads and services, as hopes for a cease-fire waned.

Israel warned the Lebanese army that it would risk danger to work crews if it attempted to repair the roads and bridges destroyed in the 15-day air, naval and artillery assault.

Eight Lebanese civilians were wounded in Thursday's fighting. Rockets fired by Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas wounded three soldiers and a civilian woman in northern Israel.

The casualties raised the overall toll to 152 dead, mostly Lebanese civilians, and about 337 wounded. About 500,000 Lebanese and more than 20,000 Israelis have been displaced.

The fighting raged as prospects of a U.S.-brokered truce turned gloomier despite shuttling by Secretary of State Warren Christopher and French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette, who were promoting rival cease-fire blueprints in Israel and Syria.

Christopher sounded downbeat Thursday, prompting speculation his mission could end without a settlement. He urged Syria and Israel to resolve their ``important differences.''

De Charette, pursuing a parallel effort in Damascus, Jerusalem and Beirut, sounded more optimistic, saying: ``We're close to the moment of decision.''

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheik Naim Qassem, accused Christopher of pushing a pro-Israel plan that would ban Islamic resistance to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

``This is totally rejected. The United States, in effect, is seeking to reward the aggressor and punish the victim,'' he said on Hezbollah's al-Manar television station in Beirut.

The Israeli onslaught has wreaked immense damage in Lebanon, but failed to achieve its goal of halting Hezbollah rocket salvos on northern Israel.

In New York, the U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to condemn Israel's bombardment of civilians in Lebanon, but the Arab-backed resolution failed to gather the strong support its sponsors sought. The vote was 64 in favor, two against and 65 abstentions. The United States and Israel were the only nations opposing the nonbinding resolution.

In the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon, Israeli fighter jets attacked positions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a radical Palestinian faction allied to Hezbollah.

Pillars of smoke billowed from the hills near the village of Kfar Zabad, three miles from the Syrian border, police reported. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The Popular Front opposes the Middle East peace process and reportedly has supplied Hezbollah guerrillas with Katyusha missiles.

Israeli jets also blasted roads linking villages southeast of the port of Tyre, further isolating residents who have refused to abandon their homes.

One missile hit a house in the village of Yater, wounding four boys and three women, a U.N. official said.

A road outside Qana, where 91 Lebanese refugees were killed and more than 100 wounded when Israel shelled a U.N. base last week, was cut by a rocket that blasted a crater 31 feet deep and 43 feet wide, U.N. officers said.

Israeli gunboats also shelled the Beirut-Tyre coastal highway, cutting off the main supply route to the south. A civilian was wounded in one attack there.

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PHOTO An Israeli soldier prepares an artillery shell for fi ring Thursday.

Associated Press