JERUSALEM - The four-week-old Israeli offensive against Hezbollah has already cost the Jewish state 1.6 billion dollars, Finance Minister Avraham Hirshson said Wednesday.
He told a press conference that he intended to ask the government next week to grant the defence ministry an additional budget of about 460 million dollars to pay for its operations in southern Lebanon.
Hirshson said he would ask various other ministries to tighten their belts to help finance the conflict in order to remain within the 2006 budget guidelines and preserve the country's economic stability.
Israel's security cabinet agreed Wednesday to expand the ground war in Lebanon which began on July 12 following the capture of two soldiers by Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas.
08/09/2006 19:10 GMT