BEIRUT, 27 July 2006 — Hezbollah inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli troops as they battled for a key hilltop town in southern Lebanon for a fourth day yesterday, with as many as 14 soldiers reported killed. Israel has faced fiercer resistance than expected as it advances across the border in its campaign against the group.

Lebanese officials, meanwhile, confirmed that four UN observers were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their post the night before. Three bodies were pulled out of the ruins, but workers were still trying to reach the fourth, the UN observer force said.

In Rome, US, European and Arab officials holding crisis talks on Lebanon failed to agree on details for a cease-fire to end 15 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced intense pressure for Washington to change its stance and call for an immediate halt to the violence.

Rice insisted any cease-fire must be “sustainable” and that there could be “no return to the status quo” — a reference to the US and Israeli stance that Hezbollah must first be pushed back from the border and the Lebanese Army backed by international forces deployed in the south.

In the past two weeks, there have been several dozen incidents of firing close to UN peacekeepers and observers, including direct hits on nine positions, some of them repeatedly. As a result of these attacks, 12 UN personnel have been killed or injured.

Proposals for disarming Hezbollah and assembling an international peacekeeping force to be deployed along the border were on the agenda yesterday at the Rome meeting. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the formation of a multinational force to help Lebanon assert its authority and implement UN resolutions that would disarm Hezbollah.

After listening to an appeal from Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora for them to stop the killing, the officials said they had agreed on the need to deploy an international force under the aegis of the United Nations in southern Lebanon.

But there was no agreement on when a cease-fire could take place. “Participants expressed their determination to work immediately to reach, with utmost urgency, a cease-fire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities. The cease-fire must be lasting, permanent and sustainable,” said Italian Foreign Minister Massimo d’Alema at the close of the meeting.

Despite two weeks of Israeli bombardment against Hezbollah rocket launchers and positions, the fighters fired one of their largest barrages in days into northern Israel — 119 rockets that wounded at least 31 people and damaged property.

Since the fighting began, at least 422 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. Up to 750,000 Lebanese have been driven from their homes. At least 42 Israelis have been killed, including 24 members of the military, according to authorities.

The pan-Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya said at least 14 Israeli soldiers had been killed, while Al-Jazeera said 13 were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting

The Israeli bombardment of a UN observation post in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam provoked a sharp exchange between the world body and Israel.

Olmert expressed “deep regret” over the deaths and said they were “mistaken.” But he rejected a charge by Annan that the direct hit on the position was apparently deliberate.

“It’s inconceivable for the UN to define an error as an apparently deliberate action,” Olmert said, adding that he ordered an investigation into the strike.

One of the dead was identified as Chinese UN observer Du Zhaoyu. China demanded that Israel apologize. The other three UN observers were from Austria, Canada and Finland.

The bodies of a Nigerian civilian worker for the UN observers and his wife were finally dug out of a building outside Tyre where they were killed last week.