| Defense Minster Amir Peretz said Monday he has ordered the army to step up the offensive against Hizbullah rocket launching sites in Lebanon if the diplomatic process remains inconclusive. "We are at one of the most decisive stages of this war," Peretz told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Peretz said in the absence of a diplomatic agreement, he had instructed the army to "take control" of launching sites "wherever they are to minimize the fire of Katyusha rockets and take the Israeli people out of the shelters." |