Amnesty International has accused Hezbollah militants of violating international law by deliberately targeting civilians with thousands of rockets during the recent conflict with Israel.

The human rights group, whose delegates monitored the fighting in both Israel and Lebanon, focused the report on the actions of the Lebanese militants during the 34-day war.

Hezbollah launched nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel in July and August, killing at least 39 civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.

The report quoted Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as saying that "As long as the enemy undertakes its aggression without limits or red lines, we will also respond without limits or red lines."

The firing of rockets into urban areas in northern Israel flouted international laws that call for discriminating between civilian and military targets, Amnesty said.

"Targeting civilians is a war crime. There's no grey area," Larry Cox, Amnesty's executive director in the United States, told The Associated Press.

Although Hezbollah denies targeting civilians, it fired inaccurate rockets loaded with thousands of metal ball bearings to maximize harm, Amnesty charged.

Amnesty repeated its call urging the United Nations to look into whether both combatants, Israel and Hezbollah, broke international law.

It said those behind the civilian suffering were "escaping all accountability."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said he had no doubt that the Islamic militia fired rockets in a premeditated way to kill a maximum number of civilians.

"It is also important to remember that the leaders of Hezbollah have spoken on many occasions about their desire to destroy the state of Israel," Regev said.

Hezbollah rejected the report, saying it showed that Amnesty was bowing to American and Israel pressure.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said Amnesty should weigh the number of civilians killed on each side, before accusing the group of violating international law, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The report comes less than a month after Amnesty accused Israel of committing war crimes, saying it deliberately destroyed Lebanon's civilian infrastructure during its recent war with Hezbollah guerrillas.

The human rights group said initial evidence, including the pattern and range of the Israeli attacks, high number of civilian casualties, widespread damage and statements by Israeli officials "indicate that such destruction was deliberate and part of a military strategy, rather than `collateral damage.'"

Violence erupted between Israel and Lebanon after Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

UNICEF estimates some 1,183 people died in the conflict, most of them Lebanese civilians and about one-third of them children.

Amnesty also plans to publish additional reports on whether Hezbollah contributed to civilian deaths in Lebanon by purposely hiding among civilians, Amnesty in Britain spokesperson Nicole Choueiry said.

Israel and Lebanon reject the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, making it unlikely that either nation could be prosecuted there.