Special Report: New clash between Israeli, Lebanese troops   Photo Gallery>> Watch video>> (1) (2) 

    BEIRUT, July 16 (Xinhua) -- At least seven Lebanese soldiers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a port in northern Lebanon on late Sunday night, local media reported.

    Earlier reports said that three soldiers were killed and seven others missing in the Israeli raid.

    Israeli warplanes struck a fishing port at Abdeh in northern Lebanon and a Lebanese military intelligence base there was hit, said the reports.

    The number of casualties might rise further since rescue teams were searching the debris for victims, the reports added. Israel launched waves of airstrikes on late Sunday night, pounding targets across Lebanon.

    Israel has started an intense offensive in Lebanon since July 12 when Lebanon's Hizbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border clashes. Enditem

    Related: Israel launches air strike on key N.Lebanese city

    BEIRUT, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Israel launched an air strike on the key northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli on late Sunday night, sources said.

    Israeli warplanes struck the seaport in Tripoli, which is Lebanon's second largest city, said the sources, adding that a second missile hit a fishing port north of Tripoli. There was no immediate report on casualties.

    Earlier in the day, 16 Lebanese civilians were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a building in the southern Lebanese port town of Tyre.

    Israel continued a five-day-old assault in Lebanon on Sunday after the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border clashes on July 12.

    In a separate incident, at least seven people including five holding dual Lebanese and Canadian citizenship were killed in an Israeli raid on a southern Lebanese village.

    Meanwhile, eight Israelis were killed and dozens more injured in a Hizbollah rocket attack on the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed "far-reaching consequences" for the deadly attack while Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the fight against Israel had just began. Enditem