Al-Qaida chief warns Israel over attacks

Ayman al-Zawahri, number two to Osama bin Laden, said the group now saw "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us."

The taped message was broadcast by al-Jazeera television as the 15-day conflict continued.

Israeli warplanes staged a series of raids in northern, eastern and southern Lebanon early today, striking a Lebanese army base and destroying roads, Lebanese security officials said.

The Israeli airstrikes, which caused at least one death and wounded others, came as the Israeli government was to meet to decide whether to broaden the military offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas.

Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Israel must unleash massive air strikes against villages in south Lebanon to clear out Hezbollah gunmen.

Nine Israeli soldiers were killed and 25 wounded in house-to-house fighting in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon yesterday. Mr Ramon, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the Israeli air force must bomb villages before ground forces enter, suggesting this would help prevent Israeli casualties in the future.

Asked by Israel Army Radio whether entire villages should be flattened, he said: "These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating."

Mr Ramon insisted Israel had given civilians in south Lebanon sufficient warning to leave the area, and that those left behind should be considered Hezbollah sympathisers.