Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday vowed to push a war to deep inside Israel in a statement released by the group's al-Manar television.

 

"It will be war at all levels ... to Haifa and beyond Haifa," Nasrallah said in an audio message shortly after an Israeli air raid on his home and the group's headquarters.

 

"You want an open war, you will get an open war," he said.

 

He also claimed that Hezbollah had destroyed an Israeli warship off the coast of Beirut.

 

The UN Security Council debated on Friday the ongoing Lebanon-Israeli conflict in an emergency meeting Friday, with the Lebanese delegate calling for international help to end a massive Israeli offensive against his country.

 

The meeting was convened at the request of Lebanon shortly after Israeli warplanes bombed southern Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, raising fears of escalating the conflict into a full war.

 

The Lebanese ambassador to the United Nations, Nouhad Mahmoud, called on the council to "take a clear decision to establish a ceasefire and the aerial and sea blockade imposed on Lebanon."

 

"The Lebanese government condemns and denounces the Israeli aggression, which is a blatant violation of all international resolutions, laws, conventions and customs," said the ambassador.

 

He welcomed the dispatch of a three-man team by Secretary General Kofi Annan to the Middle East on a mission to help defuse the major crisis in the region.

 

The high-level team, led by Annan's special political adviser, Vijay Nambiar, will begin its week-long mission in Cairo, meeting with Egyptian officials and Arab League foreign ministers.

 

Nambiar and his team are also expected to travel to Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, and Syria.

 

US Ambassador John Bolton said the outbreak of violence was sparked by attacks and kidnappings which Hamas and Hezbollah carried out against Israel.

 

"Hezbollah's incursions across the Blue Line on July 12 were a deliberate and premeditated provocation intended to undermine regional stability," Bolton said, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah.

 

"Syria and Iran must be held to account for supporting regional terrorism and their role in the current crisis," Bolton told the council meeting.

 

He also demanded that all militias in Lebanon be disarmed and disbanded immediately to allow the Lebanese government to extend and exercise sole and exclusive control over its territory.

 

Chinese deputy representative Liu Zhenmin called on concerned parties in the region to exercise maximum restraint to calm the situation and to tackle the current crisis through diplomatic means.

 

He said that China was gravely concerned and worried about the recent worsening conflict between Lebanon and Israel.

 

China opposes any attempts aimed at destabilizing the region, he added, calling on the parties to show respect for the Blue Line and fully implement relevant UN resolutions.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2006)