The seven civilians, including at least two children, were killed in the village of Nabatyieh while another civilian died in a raid on the eastern region of Baalbek, police said.

A Lebanese policeman was killed on the bombardments on Baalbek on Tuesday, they said.

The latest casualties raised the overall death toll in Lebanon since the blistering Israeli offensive started on July 12 to at least 394.

Hezbollah said five of its fighters were killed during intense combat against Israeli forces who have crossed over the border in the south in a major ground incursion. Two Hezbollah medics were also killed while evacuating civilian victims of bombardments, a statement said.

Fellow Shiite group Amal said that four of its fighters had been killed. Neither side specified the location or the date of the deaths.

That brought total losses on Hezbollah's side to 26 while a total of five Amal fighters have died.

But civilians make up the overwhelming majority of the deaths from the Israeli attacks, with 335 killed so far.

A car transporting civilians was hit in the late afternoon by an Israeli missile in the Baalbek region, a stronghold of Hezbollah, killing one of the passengers, police said.

Another 27 Lebanese soldiers and police have been killed since the start of the hostilities on July 12, even though they are not involved in fighting Israel.

About 800 civilians and 81 soldiers and police have also been wounded.

At least half a million ordinary Lebanese have been displaced by the conflict, which UN agencies and European countries are calling a "catastrophe".

On Tuesday, Israel blasted the southern suburbs of Beirut, ending a 24-hour lull that coincided with a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Loud blasts echoed across the Lebanese capital and television pictures showed a huge cloud of smoke rising from the southern residential area that was a Hezbollah stronghold. There was no immediate word on casualties.

An AFP photographer in the district said Israeli warplanes carried out the bombardments.

Israel says it is battling to liquidate Hezbollah, stop rocket attacks and free two soldiers captured by the Shiite group. But much of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli warplanes and artillery, including all airports, most main roads and bridges, petrol stations, grain silos, factories, water pumping stations, and communications and television towers.

"Seventy-five percent of our industry sector no longer functions," said Charles Arbid, vice-president of the Industry Association of Lebanon.

"What's strange is that the bombings hit all the chain of production, from manufacturing to suppliers," he said.

Prices for certain goods were soaring because of increased transport costs reflecting the blows to fuel supplies and risks to truck drivers who were often targeted by Israeli warplanes.

Lebanon's Finance Minister Jihad Azur told AFP last week that his country had suffered several billion dollars in damages.

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