ARAB AFFAIRS - July 13 - Syria And Iran Told To Rein In Hizbullah.

Syria and Iran comes under growing pressure to restrain the Lebanese Hizbullah and Palestinian Hamas groups as Israel intensifies its military offensive against Lebanon. Israeli warplanes attacked the home and office of the Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and struck Beirut airport and the main highway linking the city and Damascus, tightening a blockade over the country. But Hizbullah was defiant, striking a warship in Lebanese waters and raining rockets on northern Israel. "You wanted an open war and we are ready for open war", Nasrallah said on the organisation's TV station. Late in the evening, the Israeli army confirmed that a naval vessel had been damaged in an attack off the coast of Lebanon. Israeli officials said the damage was caused by an unmanned aircraft laden with explosives. Four Israeli sailors were missing, Al Jazeera TV said. The US warned Damascus and Tehran that they would be held accountable for their role in the crisis and insisted that Israel had the right to defend itself. But it called on Israel to minimise civilian casualties. Five more people were killed in Lebanon, bringing the toll since July 12 to 60. Syria's ruling Ba'ath party said last night that it would support its allies, Hizbullah and Lebanon, against Israel's attacks. In New York, where the UN Security Council held an emergency session, John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, accused Syria of providing a safe haven to the militant wing of Hamas and giving material support to Hizbullah. France, too, suggested Tehran might have encouraged attacks to divert attention from the stand-off over its nuclear programme. But it also sharply criticised Israel for "disproportionate" use of force. Israel launched big military strikes against Hizbullah targets and civilian installations in Lebanon after the capture on July 12 of two soldiers by Hizbullah in a raid in northern Israel. On July 14, the conflict triggered another sharp rise in oil prices to nearly $80 a barrel. The surge combined with fears over geopolitical risks to drive share markets down heavily, the Dow Jones industrial average falling for the third straight day to close down 106.94 points at 10,739.35.