ISRAEL - July 16 - Israelis Brace For Prolonged Conflict.

Israel extends a missile alert southwards to Tel Aviv as PM Ehud Olmert, warns a public menaced by long-range strikes from Lebanon's Hizbullah to be prepared for a prolonged struggle. Less than a week after the Shiite militia sparked the crisis by mounting a cross-border raid in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed and two captured, a military escalation by both sides has pushed the region to the brink of all-out war that threatens to suck in neighbouring states. Hizbullah missiles struck Haifa, the country's third largest city, killing eight Israelis. The Israeli military responded with airstrikes throughout Lebanon. Earlier, in the southern city of Tyre, 16 people were killed, many of them in an attack on a building used by rescue workers. Seven Canadian holidaymakers were killed in a separate strike on the Lebanese border town of Aitaroun. Signalling an escalation of Israel's war aims after fruitless efforts to secure the release of the two soldiers, Amir Peretz, the defence minister, said: At the end of this conflict we must bring Hizbullah to a point where it would not be possible for the organisation to return to the international border and the line of fire". This was "perhaps one of the most decisive moments facing the state of Israel", he added. Olmert told his cabinet that it faced difficult and complex decisions. "Nothing will deter us", he said, "whatever far-reaching ramifications regarding our relations on the northern border and in the region there may be". The crisis eclipsed the conflict with the Palestinians that dominated the Israeli public's security concerns up until a few days ago. Fighting nevertheless continued on the Gaza front, where the Israeli army launched its latest ground offensive to target Palestinian militants. Five militants and a civilian were killed. The escalation in violence in the north overturned an uneasy strategic balance that had prevailed along the Israeli-Lebanese border in the six years since Israel withdrew the last of its troops after a two-decade occupation. The Israeli military was aware that Hizbullah had accumulated missiles capable of striking at least as far south as Haifa, 20 miles inside Israel, but was confident the threat of massive retaliation would deter the militants from using them. Sporadic clashes were confined to Hizbullah rocket and mortar strikes focused on the Shebaa Farms area. Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran on July 16 of supplying the weaponry that allowed Hizbullah to strike deep inside Israel and to hit an Israeli patrol vessel on July 14. It was an echo of earlier accusations by Israeli officials that Hizbullah's two regional allies were arming the group in order to threaten Israel. In February 2002 FM Shimon Peres, said Iran had supplied 8,000 missiles capable of hitting Israeli cities. Israeli officials estimate that arsenal has since grown by some 50%. If Israel's extensive strikes against Lebanon - the military said on July 16 it had mounted 130 raids in the previous 24 hours - fail to stem Hizbullah missile attacks, it has the option of a ground offensive into southern Lebanon. The army warned Lebanese civilians to leave the area ahead of air strikes that could be the prelude to a ground invasion. But analysts said the Olmert government would be reluctant to embark on a long-term operation in south Lebanon.