"Hizbullah's leader, for the first time since fighting began 22 days ago, offered Thursday to stop rocket attacks on northern Israel in return for an end to airstrikes throughout Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah, however, vowed to fire rockets into Tel Aviv if Israel were to strike at Beirut proper. IAF warplanes have hit Hizbullah strongholds in southern Beirut suburbs repeatedly, most recently before dawn on Thursday.

"If you bomb our capital Beirut, we will bomb the capital of your usurping entity... We will bomb Tel Aviv," he said. "