Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Friday condemned Israeli airstrikes on four bridges in north Beirut, local media reported.

After Hezbollah rocket attack killed several Israelis on Friday, Israel expanded its bombing of Lebanon with airstrikes targeting bridges in north Beirut, killing three people and injuring several others as well as destroying four bridges.

Lahoud said in a statement that the Israeli intense airstrikes on Lebanon's bridges and roads were aimed at tightening the blockade on the Lebanese, cutting communications between them and starving them.

The coastal highway that connects Beirut and northern Lebanon is now Lebanon's only main access road to the outside world, Lahoud said, adding that the Israeli bombing of the highway and bridges cut off the landway by which foreign aid supplies, fuel and food could be brought into Lebanon.

He said Israel was trying to pressure Lebanon to accept its conditions that they were not willing to. He reiterated his country's adherence to its principled stand that an immediate ceasefire is a prerequisite to any talks.

Source: Xinhua