Nasrallah speaks out as Israel plans expansion of ground offensive in Lebanon

It's all about escalation (or at least the signs of escalation). Here's the AP with the news:

Pitched battles raged between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters on the border Thursday, and Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people to flee southern Lebanon "immediately," preparing for a likely ground offensive to set up a buffer zone...

On a day that saw U.S. Marines return to Lebanon for the first time in 22 years, the war looked ready to expand dramatically. Neither side showed any sign of backing down. Hezbollah refused to release its two Israeli soldiers without a prisoner exchange, Israel was aiming to create a new buffer zone in a region that saw 18 years of Israeli presence ending in 2000...

Israel has decided air power alone will not be enough to drive Hezbollah back from the Israeli-Lebanon border and that a ground force will be needed to establish a zone that is at least 20 miles deep, senior military officials said Thursday.

Condi Rice will head to the region in the coming days, "the first U.S. diplomatic effort on the ground" since the conflict broke out.

Meanwhile, Kofi Annan, who blames both sides, "warned of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and called for an immediate cease-fire, even as he admitted 'serious obstacles' stand in the way of even easing the violence". The humanitarian toll:

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora put the death toll at more than 330 — at least 11 of them killed Thursday — with 1,100 wounded. At least 31 Israelis have been killed, including 16 soldiers — two of them killed in Thursday's fighting.

The U.N. estimated that about a half-million people have been displaced in Lebanon, with 130,000 fleeing to Syria and about 45,000 believed to be in need of assistance.

Not to mention all the foreign evacuees, of course.

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According to The Jerusalem Post, Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, "spoke on Thursday for the first time since the beginning of the week, saying Hizbullah's entire infrastructure and leadership hierarchy were still intact and functional".

In his words: "I can confirm without exaggerating or using psychological warfare, that we have not been harmed."

And: "Hizbullah has so far stood fast, absorbed the strike and has retaken the initiative and made the surprises that it had promised, and there are more surprises."

Surprises? One wonders how bloody they'll be once they materialize. Given Hezbollah's history, whatever it has planned could be extraordinarily ruthless. At least, if not much else, Nasrallah opened the door to the possibility of negotiations to secure the release of the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. (Whether Israel would or should negotiate with such a ruthless terrorist organization, one that targets civilians as well as military personnel, is another matter.)