U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over the situation in Lebanon where Israel continues a 29-day-old assault, local newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported on its website.

The report quoted Israeli official sources as saying that Rice telephoned Olmert when the Israeli prime minister was holding a security cabinet meeting over Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

Olmert informed Rice of the latest development concerning the situation in Lebanon, said the report, adding that after the phone conversation, Olmert told the top Israeli ministers that the Israeli military offensive would go parallel with diplomatic efforts based on a UN Security Council draft resolution proposed by the U.S. and France aimed to end fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

No further details were revealed.

The Israeli security cabinet okayed the expansion of ground operations in Lebanon after a six-hour closed-door meeting.

Under the security cabinet's decision, the Israeli army are to push to the Litani River, about 20 km from the Israel-Lebanon border, in a bid to prevent Hezbollah from firing rockets onto Israel.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Eliyahu Yishai told Israel's public radio after the meeting that the expanded ground offensive was expected to last 30 days or even longer.

Currently, about 10,000 Israeli troops are operating in south Lebanon.

Member states of the UN Security Council are mulling a draft resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, which broke out on July 12 when Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.