BEIRUT, Aug 9: A column of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles crossed into southern Lebanon on Wednesday evening from the Israeli town of Metulla, invading under cover of artillery fire and airstrikes, shortly after Israel’s Security Cabinet decided to expand the ground offensive.

Witnesses in the village of Bourj al-Mulouk said at least 10 tanks and armoured vehicles and two bulldozers, used to clear mines and dig tank positions, were spotted crossing the border fence, the witnesses reported.

The Israeli armour took up positions inside Lebanese territory on a hill across from the tip of the northernmost end of the Galilee panhandle. The Israelis destroyed several houses as they advanced, witnesses said.

The area is about five kilometers inside Lebanon, south of the town of Marjayoun.

Arab satellite TV stations reported that 11 Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday, in what would be the deadliest day for Israeli troops in Lebanon. Hezbollah fired more than 160 rockets at Israel by mid-afternoon.

Hezbollah announced the deaths of three guerilla fighters but did not say when.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said some of those were Khaibar-1 rockets fired at Beit Shean, deep inside Israel.

Israeli warplanes had earlier killed nine people, including five children in raids on Lebanon as the Jewish state showed no sign of easing its blistering air campaign in which more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have died.

The Israeli military said its air force had carried out more than 100 raids around Beirut and the south of Lebanon overnight, targeting what it called “Hezbollah buildings”, destroying four rocket launchers and targeting several launch sites.

Two people were killed and 16 wounded in the southern Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Helweh.

The Israeli military also launched new strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs forcing hundreds of mourners burying 26 of their 32 dead from Monday’s attack on the district of Shiyah to run for cover.

Hezbollah said its guerillas attacked another Israeli armored column in Taibeh, destroying two tanks and killing or wounding the crews. It said there were “confirmed casualties” in another attack on Israeli troops near Tal al-Nehas. Both villages are less than 10 kilometers from the Israeli border.

Earlier in the day, UN peacekeepers, who maintain positions along the border said, there were reports about a concentration of Israeli troops in the Manara and Metulla areas along the border.

Before that Israel’s Security Cabinet had decided to expand the ground offensive and thrust toward the Litani River, which is down a valley six kilometers from the border in that area. Along the coast, however, the Litani is about 30km north of the Israeli border.

In Al Quds, a senior political source said Lebanon offensive could last 30 days.

“The military presented its timetable, saying it needed at least 30 days, and this was endorsed by the cabinet,” the source said. But statements issued by the government gave no timetable and said it would be up to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz to decide.

BLOODY CLASHES: In Tyre, fighting erupted with Hezbollah when Israeli troops were attempting to punch deeper into Lebanon.