The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, has repeated his pledge to hit back at those who attack the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.

Speaking after a six-hour meeting with security chiefs to consider a response to Sunday's attack by Hezbollah guerrillas on an army patrol, Mr Barak said it was impossible to allow those who carried out or planned such attacks to go unpunished.

"The army will ensure that those who strike in Lebanon are repaid in kind, because it is impossible to allow continued attacks on the Israeli army in Lebanon without the aggressors and those who send them going unpunished," he told young supporters of his governing Labour party.

Mr Barak was speaking after a meeting of his security cabinet reportedly decided to toughen the response to guerrilla attacks on troops in the Israeli-occupied buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

The security cabinet agreed to "ratchet up the riposte", a television report said, and a military commentator spoke of the possibility of air raids on Beirut or Hezbollah bases in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley.

In the latest Hezbollah attack on Sunday, a bomb attack killed one Israeli soldier and wounded at least six others.

It was the fifth death of an Israeli soldier in recent days.

Under pressure

Correspondents say Mr Barak is under intense domestic pressure to take strong military action against Hezbollah.

But they say he fears that this may harm land-for-peace talks with Syria.

After Sunday's attack he warned that the situation had "become intolerable and we will respond severely."

However, he gave no indication of how or when Israel might strike back and he warned Israelis not to lose sight of the bigger picture, speaking of "reaching agreements that will ensure Israel's safe future."

Mr Barak has pledged to withdraw Israeli troops from south Lebanon by July, preferably having first reached a peace deal with Syria.

Israel occupies a strip of land in south Lebanon as a so called security zone to buffer it against cross-border attacks.



Lebanon appeal

In continuing violence, Israeli jets attacked suspected guerrilla positions in south Lebanon on Monday.

The Lebanese government has asked the United States to intervene to help stop Israeli retaliatory attacks.

A statement from the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss said Mr Hoss had telephoned the US ambassador, David Saterfield, to ask for his help in "making the necessary contacts."