230 rockets rain on Israel

SAFED, Israel — Hezbollah guerrillas launched more than 230 rockets into northern Israel Wednesday, a record number that scorched fields, damaged homes and killed a Massachusetts-born kibbutz resident.

In southern Lebanon, 8,000 to 10,000 Israeli troops, backed by tanks, pressed a broad offensive against Hezbollah fighters, going from village to village to clear out guerrillas.

A senior general predicted that the army's first goal in the three-week campaign — clearing Hezbollah from a 3- or 4-mile buffer zone near the border — would be achieved today.

The Hezbollah rocket barrage was by far the largest in one day since the conflict began July 12, and included one rocket that exploded near Beit She'an, 45 miles from the border — the deepest penetration by a Hezbollah rocket so far.

Another relatively long-range rocket overshot the Israeli city of Afula and exploded in the West Bank near the Palestinian city of Jenin, about 32 miles south of the border. Both rockets fell into agricultural areas and caused no injuries.

Early today, Israel renewed air strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut's outskirts. Witnesses said at least four explosions reverberated after missiles hit Dahieh, a Shiite Muslim suburb that has been repeatedly shelled by Israel.

The Israeli military said early today that an Israeli soldier was killed and four others wounded in Ayt a-Shab, just across the border.

Former Newton, Mass. resident David Lelchook, 52, who moved to Israel more than 20 years ago, was killed Wednesday while riding his bicycle at Kibbutz Saar, near Nahariya in the northwest corner of Israel.

About 20 other Israeli civilians were injured, one gravely, in other rocket attacks. This week another American immigrant was among three Israeli soldiers killed in fighting in Lebanon, the army said Wednesday. Michael Levin, 22, moved to Israel three years ago from Pennsylvania and enlisted in the paratroopers.

New details also emerged Wednesday about Israel's daring airborne raid that occurred late Tuesday in the northeastern Lebanon town of Baalbek.

Commando units killed 19 Hezbollah fighters and captured five others in the militant stronghold, Brigadier General Ido Nehushtan said at a briefing in Tel Aviv.

Witnesses said the Israeli forces partially destroyed the Dar al-Hikma hospital in Baalbek, which residents said is financed by an Iranian charity close to Hezbollah. A Hezbollah official in Beirut said the hospital had been evacuated several days earlier.