Thousands of Lebanese civilians have fled north, fearing Israel will invade and expand an 11-day-old bombardment of Lebanon which has killed 349 people, mostly civilians.

Resisting international pressure for a cease-fire, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said before a trip to the region that the conflict's root causes . . . in her view Hizbollah's armed presence on Israel's border and the role of its allies, Syria and Iran . . . had to be tackled first.

An army spokesman said Israeli forces were making only limited thrusts a few kilometres into south Lebanon.

"It will probably widen, but we are still looking at limited operations, " he said. "We're not talking about massive forces going inside at this point."

UN peacekeepers said Israeli forces withdrew on Friday night from the village of Marwaheen, just inside Lebanon, but were still present further east in Maroun al-Ras, scene of fierce fighting earlier this week.

Israel has been building up its forces at the border and has called up 3,000 reserves.

Defence Minister Amir Peretz has talked of a possible land offensive to halt rocket attacks that have killed 15 Israeli civilians in the past 11 days.

But Israel is wary of mounting another invasion, only six years after it ended a costly 22year occupation of the south.

Already, 19 soldiers have been killed in the latest conflict.

Meanwhile ships and aircraft yesterday whisked more exhausted people fleeing the fighting in Lebanon to safety in Cyprus in a mass international effort that has so far evacuated more than 25,000 people.

Cypriot foreign minister Georgios Lillikas, inspecting a French-chartered boat in Larnaca port that had just brought in 1,200 people, said he expected many more evacuees to arrive on the tiny holiday island, straining its limited resources.

"We expect the number to triple in the coming days. There are more than 60,000 to 70,000 to be evacuated through Cyprus, " he said, as he toured the Ierapetra with Catherine Colonna, France's minister for European affairs.

Asked about Cyprus' appeal for help from its European Union partners in moving evacuees home, she said: "I hope the answer is swift and positive . . . This is an enormous burden on Cyprus."

The amphibious transport USS Trenton, the biggest ship so far involved in the evacuation, docked earlier yesterday at the Cypriot port of Limassol with some 1,800 people. The USS Nashville arrived later with another 1,000.

Evacuees described scenes of mayhem in Lebanon, where many had been holidaying or visiting family when the Israeli rockets began falling 11 days ago.

"I was at my club playing tennis and suddenly heard shelling over my head, " said Eddy Munzer, 66, a retired lawyer from Florida. "The situation is so uncertain, I don't see any bright future in the short term."