The Israelis used more than 50 helicopters to ferry hundreds of commandos into Hezbollah territory in the largest such operation in the Middle East since the October 1973 war.

The Lebanese army said early Sunday that one of its soldiers was killed overnight in an air raid near an army base in the southwestern area of the Bekaa Valley.

Lebanese officials said Israeli warplanes staged three air raids around the town of Baalbek in the northern part of the Bekaa late Saturday and Israeli jets fired missiles at the northern entrance to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in Sidon, south Lebanon. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Before dawn Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck sites near the Syrian border ¡ª a bridge near the town of Halba and an unidentified target around Ali Nahri in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese media reported. There was no word on casualties. Israel has said its warplanes have been attacking guerrilla targets and roads in an effort to choke off Hezbollah's supply lines.

President Bush had an eight-minute phone call Saturday with Saniora to discuss the U.N. resolution and efforts to end hostilities. The White House issued a statement declaring the administration was determined to vanquish the hold of Hezbollah ¡ª and that of its Syrian and Iranian benefactors ¡ª on the south.

"These steps are designed to stop Hezbollah from acting as a state within a state, and put an end to Iran and Syria's efforts to hold the Lebanese people hostage to their own extremist agenda," Bush said. "This in turn will help to restore the sovereignty of Lebanon's democratic government and help ensure security for the people of Lebanon and Israel."

Saniora, an anti-Syria politician whose government was extremely weak when the fighting began, appears to have emerged from the crisis considerably strengthened. He refused to give in to initial cease-fire proposals from the United States and France that would have left Israeli troops in place until an international force was installed.

He also prevailed in his insistence that policing of the cease-fire be done by Lebanese soldiers supported by a U.N. force rather than by an ad hoc assembly of international troops, possibly from NATO.

The cease-fire, unanimously adopted by the U.N. Security Council on Friday night, calls for a contingent of as many as 30,000 soldiers ¡ª half U.N., half Lebanese ¡ª to enforce the truce.

French President Jacques Chirac said his nation was ready to contribute troops. Italy and the predominantly Muslim nations of Turkey and Malaysia also have offered soldiers.

Israeli police said 64 rockets fell on northern Israel, wounding eight people. That compared with an average 200 missiles daily for the last two weeks.

At least 19 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli air raids Saturday. In the deadliest strike, Israeli missiles killed at least 15 civilians in the southern village of Rachaf, Lebanese security officials said.

Israeli warplanes also knocked out a highway in northern Lebanon leading to the Arida border crossing with Syria, the last official border post open for aid convoys and civilians fleeing the country. The only routes left were rugged footpaths and back roads through deserts or over mountains.

Aid convoys were stuck in ports or at warehouses because Israel refused to guarantee their safety on the roads. Thousands of people trapped in southern villages were believed to have run out of food and medicine and were drinking unsafe water.