Israeli troops on Wednesday fatally shot a West Bank leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group who was involved in an attempted bombing near Tel Aviv, the army said.

Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at Israeli warplanes over southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a military spokesman said, indicating that Lebanon’s army is taking a new assertiveness toward Israel.

Vice President Dick Cheney reaffirmed the Bush administration’s commitment to the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq during a visit to a U.S. aircraft carrier Wednesday, saying “the American people will not support a policy of retreat.”