The Islamic militant group, Hezbollah, has honoured fighters who carried out the assassination of a senior commander of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army last week.

Speaking at a ceremony for the fighters in Beirut, the Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nazrallah, said the group should now prepare rockets for use against Israel after Israeli helicopters attacked a car carrying an unidentified Hezbollah commander on Friday in apparent retaliation for the killing of the SLA leader.

Sheikh Nazrallah said the Hezbollah commander escaped, but civilians had been hurt in the attack, which he said breached an unwritten agreement with Israel that each side would not target civilians. Israeli warplanes carried out further raids on suspected Hezbollah bases on Saturday after Hezbollah attacks on Israeli positions.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service