BEIRUT, July 28: Intensive Israeli bombing killed 14 people in Lebanon on Friday and Hezbollah said it had fired new longer-range rockets at Israel, as diplomacy to end the 17-day-old war marked time.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, now in Malaysia, delayed her departure without explanation, scotching hopes she would return to the region for more talks as early as Friday.

Later in the day, President George Bush announced in Washington that Ms Rice would leave Malaysia for the Middle East on Saturday.

Aircraft repeatedly bombed villages near Lebanon’s southern port of Tyre and Israeli artillery fired hundreds of rounds across the border, killing 10 people, including a Jordanian.

Four people were killed in about 70 air strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese security sources said.

Hezbollah fired scores of rockets into Israel, including two that the guerrilla group said were new, longer-range missiles, in a barrage that wounded six people.

The longer-range rockets landed in open ground near the town of Afula, about 50kms from the Lebanese border. It matched the furthest that Hezbollah rockets had landed inside Israel since the conflict began.

Hezbollah said it had fired new ‘Khaibar 1’ missiles at Afula, fulfilling a pledge by its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to extend its bombardment of Israel beyond the port of Haifa.

Israeli media reported that a Hezbollah rocket hit a clinic in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, but no one was hurt.

The Israeli media also accused Iran of giving the new missiles to Hezbollah.—Reuters