CRISIS in the MIDDLE EAST

[theone666]

By ZEINA KARAM, AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon (Aug. - Battles between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas raged Tuesday across southern Lebanon as diplomats at the United Nations struggled to keep a peace plan from collapsing over Arab demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

Military planners in Jerusalem, meanwhile, said they plan to push even deeper into Lebanon to target rocket sites.

Attempts to negotiate a cease-fire have come down to a step-by-step proposal backed by Washington and Lebanon's insistence -- supported by Arab nations -- that nothing can happen before Israeli soldiers leave the country. Arab diplomats and U.N. Security Council members were to meet later Tuesday at the U.N. in New York to try to hammer out a compromise.

Lebanon has also put an offer on the table, pledging up to 15,000 troops to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon after Israel pulls back. The plan had added significance since it was backed by the two Hezbollah members on Lebanon's Cabinet -- apparently showing a willingness for a pact by the Islamic militants and their main sponsors, Iran and Syria.

Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, on Tuesday called the proposed Lebanese troop deployment "interesting" and said Israel would favor leaving southern Lebanon once it considers that Hezbollah is no longer a direct threat.

But the rocky hills of southern Lebanon provided a different picture. Ground fighting continued to rage in villages and strategic ridges near the Israeli border, including sites used by Hezbollah for rocket barrages that have reached deep into Israel.

Fierce skirmishes broke out around the village of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has tried to control for weeks. An Israeli solider and 15 Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in the fighting, the army said. The militant group was not immediately available for comment.

Hezbollah TV also reported pre-dawn attacks on Israeli forces near the Mediterranean city of Naqoura, about 2 1/2 miles north of the border. The report claimed there were Israeli casualties.

The Israeli army confirmed clashes and casualties in western Lebanon, but did not say whether it or Hezbollah had suffered losses.

Israel also expanded airstrikes around Lebanon, including the Hezbollah heartland in the Bekka Valley.

The clashes followed one of the bloodiest days of the four-week-long conflict. At least three Israeli soldiers and 49 Lebanese died Monday -- including 10 in a rocket attack in a Beirut suburb just hours after Arab League foreign ministers wrapped up a crisis meeting that threw its full diplomatic weight behind Lebanon.

The group set a baseline demand for the Security Council: a full Israeli withdrawal or no peace deal is possible. The message was given in a tearful address by Lebanon's prime minister, Fuad Saniora, and carried to the United Nations by Arab League envoys.

Saniora's government voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw.

The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, where Hezbollah rules with near autonomy bolstered by channels of aid and weapons from Iran and Syria. Lebanon has avoided any attempt to implement a 2-year-old U.N. resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, fearing it could touch off widespread unrest.

But now the prospect of a protracted war with Israel is even more worrisome.

The coming days should offer signs on whether a cease-fire plan has a chance.

The original proposal, drafted by the United States and France, demanded a "full cessation of hostilities" on both sides and a buffer zone in southern Lebanon patrolled by Lebanese forces and U.N. troops. But the plan did not specifically call for a withdrawal. Critics said it would give room for Israeli defensive operations.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, promised Monday to take into account Lebanon's stance. But he did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the text.

Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only Arab nation on the 15-nation Security Council, and other members, diplomats said. A vote is not expected before Wednesday at the earliest.

The proposed changes include a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to U.N. peacekeepers. Arab states also want the U.N. to take control of the disputed Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in 1967.

Qatar's foreign minister, Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani, warned of "a civil war in Lebanon" between Hezbollah and government forces if the Security Council does not make changes to the U.S.-French draft resolution. "This is what we don't want to happen and Lebanon won't bear it," he said, speaking on the Al-Jazeera network.

In Texas, President Bush said Monday that any cease-fire must prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its grip in southern Lebanon, asserting "it's time to address root causes of problems." He urged the United Nations to work quickly to approve the U.S.-French draft resolution.

Israel, meanwhile, sent mixed signals.

Olmert said the government was studying Lebanon's pledge to contribute troops to a potential peacekeeping force.

But hours earlier, Defense Minister Amir Peretz outlined plans to drive deeper into Lebanon to try to destroy Hezbollah rocket batteries _ which have kept up a near relentless barrage on northern Israel and forced people in some areas to only venture out of bomb shelters for supplies.

Peretz said a new Israeli push -- expected to be approved by Israel's Security Cabinet on Wednesday -- would extend as far as the Litani River, about 18 miles north of the border.

The Israeli army said it declared an indefinite curfew on the movement of vehicles south of the Litani. Humanitarian traffic would be allowed, but other vehicles would be at risk if they ignored the order, the army said.

Besides Hezbollah's rocket arsenal, Israel also is facing new threats.

On Monday, the Israeli air force shot down a Hezbollah drone for the first time, sending its wreckage plunging into the sea, the army said. Israeli media reported that the unmanned aircraft had the capacity to carry 90 pounds of explosives, nearly as much as the more powerful rockets Hezbollah has been firing into Israel.

Unlike the rockets, the drone has a guidance system to for accurate targeting.

Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Jerusalem and Lauren Frayer in Beirut contributed to this report.


8/8/2006 06:03:50

[theone666]

Tuesday, 8 August 2006, 14:01 GMT 15:01 UK

Delivering humanitarian relief to south Lebanon is becoming increasingly difficult because of continuing Israeli bombardment, aid agencies have warned.
The UN refugee agency has accused Israel of bombing roads that were earmarked for aid transportation.

The International Red Cross said people in the city of Tyre were facing fuel and water shortages.

Israel's foreign ministry said it was doing its best to help the UN and Red Cross with the relief effort.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "In the framework of a difficult conflict I think we're doing our very best to co-ordinate with the international community."

He said the Israeli army had a humanitarian operations room which had helped co-ordinate 30 aid convoys on Monday. He said there were four convoys currently heading to Tyre.

'Destroying bridges'

But Antonio Guterres, head of the UN's refugee agency, said southern Lebanon was "almost unreachable" and that there were no safe areas in the entire country.


"If you destroy all the bridges and all of the roads, you can co-operate as much as you can, but the aid cannot go along."

He said supply lines from the south of the country to Beirut had been bombed, making it difficult to transport anything from the centre of the country.

Both Mr Guterres and Roland Huguenin, of the International Red Cross, called for humanitarian corridors to be established.

"It should be possible to distinguish specific roads at specific times for a few hours to allow the supply of humanitarian relief," said Mr Huguenin.

He said people in Tyre were becoming increasingly desperate, hundreds of them living in basements and shelters with very poor access to water.

"There is no fresh import of anything into the city ... hospitals are desperate for fuel and water."

He called on all sides in the conflict to respect the role of his organisation.

"When we hear that there has been an attack somewhere, that there are casualties somewhere under the rubble, we need to be able to get there [to] take them out.

"What we saw in the past week of dead bodies lying around for more than 10 days is just unacceptable."

Reconnaissance party

Christiane Berthiaume, of the World Food Programme, said no UN convoy will even attempt to reach the south of Lebanon on Tuesday.

"There has been so much bombardment. We have access problems as well as security problems."

She said the UN was unable to "maintain a rhythm" of two convoys each day - the minimum requirement.

"We are beginning to have a problem with the drivers refusing to go. Some of them are saying its too dangerous, we don't want to go."

The two main routes into Tyre had been bombed, she said, so a reconnaissance party would be sent out on Wednesday to try to find a third route.

[theone666]

Tuesday, 8 August 2006, 14:07 GMT 15:07 UK

By Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Lebanon's coastline could take up to 10 years to recover from a massive oil spill, the nation's environment minister has said.

Yacoub Sarraf said it was impossible to begin tackling the problem while the conflict with Israel continued.

The UN has warned the spill could pose a cancer risk to people living in the affected areas.

The oil slick caused by Israeli bombing of a power station now covers 120km (75 miles) of the region's coasts.

Mr Sarraf said the delay had already severely affected the Lebanese shores.

"The damage has been done. It goes without saying that the whole fishing community will be hit for at least two or three years before the ecosystem re-establishes itself," he told BBC News.

"The tourism sector has also been hit for one or two seasons, and I am being very optimistic."

"But worse, if we do not intervene as soon as possible, the spill that is still floating off the coast of Lebanon could return and hit the shores again."

Mr Sarraf added that until there was a ceasefire, it would be impossible to begin any clean-up operation.

"We cannot get equipment, companies, labour or know-how to handle the problem," he said.

"If you compare this to any spill in history, intervention can help within the first 48-72 hours of the spill; we are already 20 days too late."

'Cancer risk'

The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) issued a warning on Tuesday that the raid on the Jiyyeh Power plant in mid-July could pose a cancer risk to people living in the area.

Simonetta Lombardo of Unep's Mediterranean Action Plan said the spill of fuel oil was a "high-risk toxic cocktail made up of substances which cause cancer and damage to the endocrine system".

UN experts warned that the first people at risk from the "toxic spray" were the two million inhabitants of Beirut.

They also said that large quantities of dead fish along Lebanon's shores had been killed by the oil pollution.

Basma Badran, a Beirut-based spokeswoman for Greenpeace, said no clean-up operation would get under way until workers' safety could be guaranteed.

"It is an extremely risky task to make the proper assessment while under fire," she told BBC News.

"Several countries are on stand-by to send technical and expert assistance if the safety of their supplies and teams can be guaranteed."

Ms Badran added that international help was essential because the Lebanese authorities lacked any capacity to deal with such a large spill.

The Lebanese environment minister said the latest satellite images showed the oil slick was continuing to spread across the eastern Mediterranean Sea, threatening the coastlines of Turkey and possibly Cyprus.

However, a spokesman for Turkey's prime minister said the risk to the country's shores was "fairly limited", but aircraft were carrying out regular monitoring flights and that naval vessels were ready to deploy floating barriers if needed.

[theone666]

Tuesday, 8 August 2006, 16:11 GMT 17:11 UK

The UN has abandoned for the day any attempt to get an aid convoy through to south Lebanon, citing security fears.
The decision comes a day after Israel imposed an open-ended curfew on all residents south of the Litani River.

Dozens more Hezbollah rockets have been fired into Israel, as Israel launched fresh raids inside Lebanon.

A draft resolution aimed at ending the fighting, and paving the way for an international peacekeeping force, is still under discussion at the UN.

Imposing its curfew south of the Litani river, Israel said any moving vehicles in the zone - up to 30km (18 miles) inside Lebanon's border - would be destroyed.

Leaflets dropped in Tyre, the biggest Lebanese city south of the Litani river, said operations against what they described as terrorist elements would be escalated with extreme force.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Lebanon says Israel may be using threats to step up military action as a means of putting more pressure on the Lebanese government.

Roads and bridges linking Tyre and the outside world have been bombed, making it almost impossible to get aid in or civilians out.

UN officials in Beirut decided not to even attempt sending a convoy on Tuesday.

"We decided not to go today because of security concerns," Christiane Berthiaume of the UN's World Food Programme told the BBC News website.

"There has been so much bombing. There is no guarantee of safety. It is really very bad. It is getting worse.

"We have not been able to maintain a rhythm of two convoys per day, but even two would not be enough. A good number would be six."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC Israel was trying to co-ordinate aid efforts with the international community but could not assume every lorry was carrying aid rather than weapons.

As attempts to find a diplomatic solution continue, an Arab League delegation is set to push for amendments to the draft UN resolution.

They want the text changed to add Lebanon's demand for an immediate Israeli withdrawal - not mentioned in the current draft.

There is also dispute over the wording which currently demands that Hezbollah ends all attacks and Israel only ends "offensive" military operation.

Russia's UN ambassador said Moscow would not agree to any resolution which did not have Lebanese approval.

The UN Security Council, meeting in New York, is not expected to vote on the draft resolution until Wednesday.

In other developments:


At least six people were killed in the Lebanese village of Ghaziyeh while residents were burying their dead from earlier air strikes, rescue workers said

Reports said at least 15 people were killed when a predominantly Shia area of Beirut was hit late on Monday

At least three Israeli soldiers died in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, the Israeli military said

Israel said it was temporarily moving all remaining residents from the city of Kiryat Shmona - hit by more Hezbollah missiles than any other town in Israel

King Abdullah of Jordan, in a BBC interview, said the international community had shown only piecemeal ways of dealing with the Middle East and had no overall strategy
Lebanon has told army reservists to report for duty after the cabinet decided to send 15,000 soldiers to the southern border area once the Israelis pull out.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the plan as an "interesting step" and said his government would study it.

Nearly 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government has said. More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.

[theone666]

By ZEINA KARAM, AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon (Aug. - Israeli airstrikes killed 13 people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday as diplomats at the United Nations struggled to keep a peace plan from collapsing over Arab demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

Israeli warplanes hit buildings in Ghaziyeh, a Shiite town southeast of Sidon, killing 13 people inside just minutes after a funeral procession of 1,500 in nearby streets, hospital officials said. Another 18 people were wounded.

The funeral was for 15 people killed in airstrikes Monday that flattened three buildings.

Meanwhile, military planners in Jerusalem said they will push even deeper into Lebanon to target rocket sites.

Israel declared a no-drive zone in the entire region south of Lebanon's Litani River -- 20 miles from the border -- warning residents that any vehicle on the roads would be destroyed on the assumption it was carrying Hezbollah rockets or supplies. The order left the streets of the region's main city Tyre empty and civilians in villages across the south unable to flee.

Attempts to draw a cease-fire blueprint came down to a test between a step-by-step proposal backed by Washington and Lebanon's insistence -- supported by Arab allies -- that nothing can happen before Israeli soldiers leave. In New York, Arab envoys and U.N. Security Council members tried to hammer out a compromise.

Lebanon put its offers on the table: pledging up to 15,000 troops to a possible peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and saying Hezbollah's days of running a state within a state would end. The military plan had added significance since it was backed by the two Hezbollah members on Lebanon's Cabinet -- apparently showing a willingness for a lasting pact by the Islamic militants and their main sponsors, Iran and Syria.

Saniora on Tuesday praised Hezbollah's resistance, but said it was time for Lebanon to "impose its full control, authority and presence" over the war-weary country.

"There will be no authority, no one in command, no weapons other than those of the Lebanese state," he said on Al-Arabiya television.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the proposed Lebanese troop deployment "interesting" and said Israel would favor pulling out once it decides Hezbollah is no longer a direct threat.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Lebanese forces "would need to be supported by international forces." He added: "It certainly is a significant proposal."

In the rocky hills of southern Lebanon, ground fighting continued in attempts to control key villages and strategic ridges near the Israeli border, including sites used for Hezbollah rocket barrages that have reached deep into Israel in the heaviest Arab-Israeli battles in 24 years.

At least 145 Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel by midafternoon.

Israeli artillery and airstrikes pounded a broad swath of southern Lebanon from the Mediterranean coast to inland valleys -- including many areas in the Hezbollah heartland now under a blanket curfew imposed by Israel to try to choke off arms routes.

Earlier, rescuers said they retrieved one body after an airstrike in Rzoum, northeast of Tyre.

Some of the fiercest skirmishes broke out around the village of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israeli has tried to capture for weeks. An Israeli solider and 15 Hezbollah guerrillas were killed, the Israeli military said.

Hezbollah TV also reported pre-dawn attacks on Israeli forces near the Mediterranean town of Naqoura, about 2 1/2 miles north of the border. The Israeli military said two reserve soldiers were killed in the area.

The latest casualties brought the number of people killed in Lebanon to at least 670, while the Israeli death toll was 100.

The clashes followed one of the bloodiest days of the four-week conflict. At least three Israeli soldiers and 49 Lebanese died Monday -- including 15 in a rocket attack in a Beirut suburb just hours after Arab League foreign ministers wrapped up a crisis meeting that threw their full diplomatic weight behind Lebanon.

It set the baseline demand for the Security Council: a full Israeli withdrawal or no peace deal is possible. The message was given in an emotional address by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and carried to the U.N. by Arab League envoys.

Saniora's government voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw.

The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, where Hezbollah rules with near autonomy bolstered by channels of aid and weapons from Iran and Syria. Lebanon has avoided any attempt to implement a two-year-old U.N. resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, fearing it could touch off civil unrest.

The coming days should offer signs on whether a cease-fire plan has a chance.

The original proposal, drafted by the United States and France, demanded a "full cessation of hostilities" on both sides and a buffer zone patrolled by Lebanese forces and U.N. troops. But the plan did not specifically call for an Israeli withdrawal. Critics said it would give room for Israeli defensive operations.

French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere promised to take Lebanon's stance into account. But he did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the text.

French President Jacques Chirac will interrupt his vacation to hold urgent talks Wednesday with his prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister, his office said.

Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only Arab nation on the 15-nation Security Council, and other members, diplomats said. A vote is not expected before Wednesday.

The proposed changes include a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to U.N. peacekeepers. Arab states also want U.N. forces to take control of the disputed Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in 1967. Saniora asked for Israel to provide a full map of all land mines in southern Lebanon.

Qatar Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani warned of "a civil war in Lebanon" between Hezbollah and government forces if the Security Council does not make changes to the U.S.-French draft resolution. "Lebanon won't bear it," he told Al-Jazeera.

Saniora urged Israel to consider "a different logic" of compromise. Otherwise, he said, the region can never escape violence.

"Blood draws more blood and hatred breeds more hatred," he told Al-Arabiya.

He also took a jab at Hezbollah's sponsor Syria, which ended a nearly three-decade military presence in Lebanon last year.

"Syria should get used to the fact that Lebanon is an independent state," he said, without mentioning Hezbollah's other patron, Iran.

Israel sent mixed signals. The government said it was studying Lebanon's pledge to contribute troops to a potential peacekeeping force. But Defense Minister Amir Peretz outlined plans to drive deeper into Lebanon to try to destroy Hezbollah rocket batteries, which have fired more than 3,000 into northern Israel.

A senior government official offered to pay to move up to 17,000 Israelis living in border towns.

Peretz said a new push -- expected to be approved Wednesday by Israel's Security Cabinet -- would extend as far as the Litani River.

The Israeli army said it declared an indefinite curfew on the movement of vehicles south of the Litani. Humanitarian traffic would be allowed, but other vehicles would be at risk if they ignored the order, the army said.

In other developments:

-- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier began a three-day trip to meet with Lebanese, Israeli and Palestinian officials. He is expected to urge all sides to back U.N. efforts for the cease-fire.

-- In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council said it plans to convene a special session this week to consider taking action against Israel for its Lebanon offensive.

Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Jerusalem and Lauren Frayer in Beirut contributed to this report.


8/8/2006 13:47:36

[theone666]

Tuesday, 8 August 2006, 20:53 GMT 21:53 UK

The Arab League is making a formal bid at the UN to secure changes to a draft Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire resolution.
The delegation wants to add demands for an Israeli pullout from Lebanon. But France and the US, which thrashed out the text, do not want major changes.

A UN vote on the resolution is expected on Wednesday at the earliest.

In continuing violence, Hezbollah fired dozens more rockets at Israel, while an Israeli strike killed 13 villagers as funerals for earlier victims were held.

The strike, on the southern village of Ghaziyeh, also left about two dozen people injured, local officials said.

The Arab League's representations to the UN Security Council come after Lebanon said it found aspects of the draft resolution unacceptable.

As well as the demand for an Israeli pullout to be included, there is also dispute over wording which currently demands that Hezbollah ends all attacks and Israel only ends "offensive" military operations.

"Regrettably, the draft resolution not only falls short of meeting many of our legitimate requests, but it also may not bring about the results that the international community hopes it would achieve," Lebanese Acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri told the council.

"We requested an immediate ceasefire. What has taken so much time is still not an immediate ceasefire."

Earlier, the UN abandoned its daily attempt to get an aid convoy through to south Lebanon, citing security fears.

"There has been so much bombing. There is no guarantee of safety," Christiane Berthiaume of the UN's World Food Programme told the BBC News website.

"It is really very bad. It is getting worse.

"We have not been able to maintain a rhythm of two convoys per day, but even two would not be enough. A good number would be six."

The decision came a day after Israel imposed an open-ended curfew on all residents south of the Litani River.

Israel said any moving vehicles in the zone - up to 30km (18 miles) inside Lebanon's border - would be destroyed.

Leaflets dropped in Tyre, the biggest Lebanese city south of the Litani river, said operations against what they described as terrorist elements would be escalated with extreme force.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Lebanon says Israel may be using threats to step up military action as a means of putting more pressure on the Lebanese government.

Roads and bridges linking Tyre and the outside world have been bombed, making it almost impossible to get aid in or civilians out.

In other developments:


Lebanese police said at least 30 people were now known to have died in Israeli strikes on south Beirut on Monday night, Reuters news agency reported

At least three Israeli soldiers died in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, the Israeli military said

Israel said it was temporarily moving all remaining residents from the city of Kiryat Shmona - hit by more Hezbollah missiles than any other town in Israel

King Abdullah of Jordan, in a BBC interview, said the international community had shown only piecemeal ways of dealing with the Middle East and had no overall strategy.
Lebanon has told army reservists to report for duty after the cabinet decided to send 15,000 soldiers to the southern border area once the Israelis pull out.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the plan as an "interesting step" and said his government would study it.

Nearly 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government has said. More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.

[theone666]

Wednesday, 9 August 2006, 04:44 GMT 05:44 UK

French and American diplomats at the United Nations are beginning work on re-drafting their plan to end the crisis in the Middle East.
An Arab League delegation argued that a resolution should call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon.

But France and the US do not want major changes to their text and diplomats at the UN say prospects for an early vote on a peace plan are fading.

Israel is considering a plan by the army to push further into Lebanon.

The security cabinet will hear details of an army plan to take control of areas used by Hezbollah to fire rockets into Israel.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given the military permission to present the plan, but has refrained from expressing his own view.

For the first time since the start of the conflict, Israel carried out an air strike overnight on Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ein al-Hilweh, near the port city of Sidon.

The Israeli army said it was targeting a house in the camp belonging to a member of Hezbollah. Lebanese officials say at least one person was killed.

Lebanese and Palestinian officials said the settlement was hit by a shell from an Israeli gunboat, in the first attack on the camp during the current fighting.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah fired dozens more rockets at Israel, while an Israeli strike killed 13 villagers as funerals for earlier victims were held.

The strike, on the southern village of Ghaziyeh, also left about two dozen people injured, local officials said.

'Bloodbath'

The Arab League's representations to the UN Security Council come after Lebanon said it found aspects of the draft resolution unacceptable.

As well as the demand for an Israeli pullout to be included, there is also dispute over wording which currently demands that Hezbollah ends all attacks and Israel only ends "offensive" military operations.

"It is most saddening that the council stands idly by, crippled, unable to stop the bloodbath which has become the bitter daily lot of the defenceless Lebanese people," the delegation head, Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, told the meeting.

Lebanon, which has put forward its own seven-point proposal for peace, said the current resolution was flawed.

"Regrettably, the draft resolution not only falls short of meeting many of our legitimate requests, but it also may not bring about the results that the international community hopes it would achieve," Acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri told the council.

"We requested an immediate ceasefire. What has taken so much time is still not an immediate ceasefire."

Veto-wielding Russia earlier said it would not vote for any resolution which did not have the backing of Lebanon.

The BBC diplomatic correspondent says the UN is likely to offer some new language to bolster Lebanon's government and push on towards a vote in the next few days.

Earlier, the UN abandoned its daily attempt to get an aid convoy from Beirut to south Lebanon, citing security fears.

"There has been so much bombing. There is no guarantee of safety," Christiane Berthiaume of the UN's World Food Programme told the BBC News website.

"It is really very bad. It is getting worse.

"We have not been able to maintain a rhythm of two convoys per day, but even two would not be enough. A good number would be six."

The decision came a day after Israel imposed an open-ended curfew on all residents south of the Litani River.

Israel said any moving vehicles in the zone - up to 30km (18 miles) inside Lebanon's border - would be destroyed.

Leaflets dropped in Tyre, the biggest Lebanese city south of the Litani river, said operations against what they described as terrorist elements would be escalated with extreme force.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Lebanon says Israel may be using threats to step up military action as a means of putting more pressure on the Lebanese government.

Roads and bridges linking Tyre and the outside world have been bombed, making it almost impossible to get aid in or civilians out.

Lebanon has told army reservists to report for duty after the cabinet decided to send 15,000 soldiers to the southern border area once the Israelis pull out.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the plan as an "interesting step" and said his government would study it.

Nearly 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government has said. More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.

[theone666]

By KATHY GANNON, AP

TYRE, Lebanon (Aug. 9) - Israel shut down south Lebanon with a threat to blast any moving vehicles Tuesday as ground fighting intensified, airstrikes killed at least 19 civilians and Arab governments called for a full Israeli withdrawal as a condition of any cease-fire.

With U.S., French and Arab negotiators meeting at the United Nations, Israel voiced cautious interest in a Lebanese proposal to deploy 15,000 soldiers to south Lebanon where Hezbollah has been firing missiles into Israel. But the warring sides appeared to be some distance apart on the text of a possible resolution, not expected to come before the Security Council before Thursday.

After four weeks of fighting, nearly 800 people have died on both sides. Rescuers in Lebanon pulled 28 additional corpses from the wreckage of Monday's attacks, raising that day's toll to 77 Lebanese - the deadliest single day of the war.

Israel reported three soldiers killed Tuesday but no civilians. On Wednesday, the Israeli army announced that another two soldiers had died in fighting Tuesday in south Lebanon.

At least one Palestinian also was killed when Lebanon's largest refugee camp was struck by Israeli gunboat shells early Wednesday, Lebanese and Palestinian officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The Israeli military said the attack was an airstrike, not from the sea.

Israeli airstrikes also leveled a two-story building in the Bekaa Valley town of Mashghara early Wednesday, trapping a woman and four children under the rubble, residents said. It was not immediately known whether they were alive.

In Tyre, part of southern Lebanon where Israel declared the no-drive zone, only pedestrians ventured into the streets. Although Israel said it would not attack humanitarian convoys, the U.N. was not taking any chances.

"There are two words that sum up where the humanitarian situation is, and these are 'not enough,"' said Wivina Belmonte of the U.N. Children's Fund. "Fuel supplies are not enough, hospitals are on life support, supplies of humanitarian goods trying to get into the country are not enough."

At least 160 Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel on Tuesday, most of them in and around the towns of Nahariya, Kiryat Shemona, Maalot, Safed.

Some of the fiercest ground fighting raged around the village of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israeli has tried to capture for weeks. Three Israel soldiers were killed there Tuesday, the military said, claiming 35 Hezbollah guerrillas died in the fighting. Hezbollah would not confirm any deaths.

The issue of who will patrol southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah militants have been operating in their fight against Israel, has become the dominant sticking point in cease-fire negotiations at the United Nations.

Israeli ground troops currently are in the area, and Lebanon and other Arab nations are insisting they must leave when a cease-fire agreement is reached. President Bush says he wants an international force to replace the Israeli soldiers, but that could take weeks.

Meanwhile, Israel's military said it dispatched Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinksi to coordinate military efforts in Lebanon Tuesday. Israeli media linked the move to a possible intensification of the offensive as well as to criticism of the handling of the fight against Hezbollah. The change effectively sidelines the head of the northern command, Maj. Gen. Udi Adam.

The military denied it was a shake-up, but the naming of a top commander during the Lebanon fighting represented a highly unusual move. Israeli media linked it to mounting public criticism of the army's handling of the conflict, while military analysts said the new appointment signaled serious command problems.

Both Israel and the United States issued positive, if lukewarm, assessments Tuesday of the Lebanese government's plan to dispatch 15,000 soldiers into south Lebanon after a cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

"It looks interesting and we will examine it closely," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

The White House said it was willing to consider the proposal but is convinced that Lebanon is not equipped to handle the job on its own.

"The administration understands that the Lebanese armed forces are going to need some help, and we're working with allies to try to figure out the proper way to do it," White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters gathered near the president's vacation home.

A day after his Cabinet conditionally approved dispatching the troops to the south, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora praised Hezbollah's resistance, but said it was time for Lebanon to "impose its full control, authority and presence" nationwide - as directed in previous U.N. resolutions that also called for the government to disarm Hezbollah.

"There will be no authority, no one in command, no weapons other than those of the Lebanese state," he said on Al-Arabiya television.

The U.N. Security Council put off for at least one day voting on a U.S.-French cease-fire proposal to allow three leading Arab officials to present arguments that the resolution was heavily tilted in favor of Israel and did not "take Lebanon's interest and stability into account." Both the U.S. and French envoys to the U.N. indicated there might be room for limited compromise.

The United Nations suspended attempts to send relief to southern Lebanon because of heavy shelling in the area, said Christian Berthiaume of the World Food Program in Geneva, Switzerland. However, aid shipments were arriving elsewhere in the country.

"The Israeli forces were warning today, saying that there shouldn't be any vehicles in the southern part of Lebanon," Berthiaume said. "They had exempted humanitarian convoys (but) we decided not to go because there has been heavy shelling the last 24 hours."

The WFP and other U.N. relief agencies said they were frustrated over the difficulty of moving aid into Lebanon, and said what they had brought in so far was insufficient.

The total number of Lebanese civilian deaths rose by 47 Tuesday as rescue workers pulled 14 more bodies from the wreckage to two buildings in south Beirut that were hit by Israeli missiles the night before. The toll in that attack now stands at 30.

All but six of the Lebanese civilians killed Tuesday died in air raids that Israel said targeted guerrilla rocket positions near the Mediterranean port of Sidon.

Four strikes on Ghaziyeh killed 13 people, one of them walking in a funeral procession to bury the dead from the day before. In two days, at least 28 people were killed in the town, three miles south of Sidon, police and civil defense officials said.

Since the fighting began, at least 689 people have died on the Lebanese side of the conflict. The Israeli toll stood at 103 killed - 36 civilians and 67 soldiers.

One of the most tragic stories was that of Ali Rmeity. He was badly wounded and winced with pain in the Mount Lebanon hospital near Beirut. Three of his children were dead and his only surviving son was in intensive care. He hadn't been told because doctors said they feared the 45-year-old could not stand the shock.

Rmeity was at home with his wife and four children shortly after nightfall Monday when Israeli missiles slammed into their apartment building in the predominantly Shiite southern Beirut suburb of Chiah.

Half of the 30 people killed in the strike were from Rmeity's family.

"I had been feeling tired, so I went into the bedroom and laid down on the bed. Five minutes later the bombs fell and I found myself crying for help under the rubble," Rmeity said Tuesday. "My wife who was on the balcony was thrown in the air. They found her somewhere, I don't know where."

His wife, Hoda, was being treated in an adjacent room for severe lung injuries and several fractures. Their 9-year-old son, Hussein, was in intensive care with head trauma and brain contusion.

The Rmeity's three other children - Mohammed, 22, Fatima, 19, and 16-year-old Malak - were killed. So were Ali Rmeity's parents, his three brothers and two sisters. His brother's family, who lived in the same building, also died.


08-09-06 01:27 EDT

[theone666]

Wednesday, 9 August 2006, 13:20 GMT 14:20 UK

The Israeli cabinet has approved an army plan to push deeper into Lebanon, to try to take control of areas used by Hezbollah to launch rockets on Israel.
An extra 30,000 troops could be needed for the advance, which aims to reach the Litani river, up to 30km (18 miles) from the Israeli border.

The meeting came as French and US diplomats at the UN began re-drafting their plan to end the crisis.

Arab League officials are calling for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

Its representations to the UN Security Council came after Lebanon said it found aspects of the draft resolution unacceptable.

France and the US do not want major changes to their text and diplomats say prospects for an early vote are fading.

But French President Jacques Chirac said a workable resolution was essential and called for an immediate ceasefire.

"Our objective is to achieve cessation of hostilities so that ... the thousands of deaths, suffering and destruction should be put to an end. This is our absolute priority," he said.

Veto-wielding Russia earlier said it would not vote for any resolution which did not have the backing of Lebanon.

As discussions continued in New York, US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch held talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. No details have been released of the meeting.

The cabinet decision to push further into Lebanon came a day after Israel imposed an open-ended curfew on all residents south of the Litani River.

Earlier, the Israeli military announced that it was sending one of its most senior generals, Maj-Gen Moshe Kaplinsky, to co-ordinate the offensive.

Israeli media say this is a response to growing criticism of the conduct of the campaign.

Meanwhile Israel's campaign continued, with 120 air strikes overnight and clashes with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, as the militant group continued rocket attacks.

At least six people were killed when a two-storey building in the town of Mashghara in the eastern Bekaa Valley was hit and collapsed on top of them.

Medical sources told Reuters news agency a local Hezbollah official lived there.

In other developments:


Israel struck Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ein al-Hilweh, near the port city of Sidon, killing two people. The Israeli army said it was targeting a house there belonging to a Hezbollah member

The death toll from an Israeli air strike on a residential building in southern Beirut on Monday went up to 41 after more bodies were found in the rubble

Al-Arabiya TV reported that four Israeli soldiers had been killed in a rocket attack in southern Lebanon. There is no confirmation from Israeli sources

At least five Hezbollah rockets landed in a border area of the West Bank. No-one was hurt

UN environment experts said an oil slick from a bombed Lebanese power plant had now reached Syria

The UN Human Rights Council will meet on Friday to discuss the conflict, after a request from 16 states led by Tunisia

Nearly 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government has said. More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.

[theone666]

Updated: 09:43 AM EDT

By KARIN LAUB, AP

JERUSALEM (Aug. 9) - Israel's Security Cabinet on Wednesday approved a wider ground offensive in south Lebanon that was expected to take 30 days as part of a new push to badly damage Hezbollah, a Cabinet minister said.

The Security Cabinet authorized troops to push to the Litani River some 18 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Currently, some 10,000 soldiers are fighting Hezbollah in a four-mile stretch from the frontier.

The proposed operation was expected to take 30 days, Cabinet minister Eli Yishai said. However, an internationally backed cease-fire was expected to be imposed well before then.

"The assessment is it will last 30 days. I think it is wrong to make this assessment. I think it will take a lot longer," he said.

The decision, approved by nine ministers with three abstaining, gave authorization to Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order the wider offensive and to decide its timing. However, it did not obligate them to act.

Such a decision is risky. Israel would set itself up for new criticism that it is sabotaging diplomatic efforts, particularly after Lebanon offered to deploy its own troops in the border area.

Meanwhile, Arab satellite TV Al-Jazeera reported Wednesday that 11 Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas near the border in southern Lebanon.

More Hezbollah rockets were fired at northern Israeli towns -- including several medium-range missiles that landed near the West Bank town of Jenin and south of the Israeli city of Afula -- bringing the total during the conflict to 3,333, police said.

By mid-afternoon, the guerrillas had fired 132 rockets, but no casualties were immediately reported, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Five of the rockets landed near a Palestinian town in the West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian security officials said. There were no casualties.

The rockets landed near the village of Arabani, on the Israel-West Bank frontier, the officials said. Clouds of smoke from the rockets could be seen 12 miles away in the town of Jenin, witnesses said.

The Israeli army declined to comment on reports about the 11 soldiers' deaths but said earlier that 15 soldiers were wounded in overnight clashes.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in principle supports a wider offensive, but is hedging because of concern about rising Israeli casualties, his aides have said. However, stepping up the military campaign appeared to have strong support in the 12-member Security Cabinet.

The ministers met a day after the commander of Israeli forces in Lebanon was sidelined in an unusual mid-war shake-up -- another sign of the growing dissatisfaction with the military, which has been unable to stop Hezbollah's daily rocket barrages.

The army denied it was dissatisfied with Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, but military commentators said the commander was seen as too slow and cautious. The deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, was appointed to oversee the Lebanon fighting.

In attacks Wednesday, Israel's military struck Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, killing at least two people and wounding five. Lebanese and Palestinian officials said an Israeli gunship shelled the Ein el-Hilweh camp, but Israel's military said the attack was an airstrike that targeted a house used by Hezbollah guerrillas.

The camp is home to about 75,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Israeli airstrikes also leveled a building in the Bekaa Valley town of Mashghara, trapping seven people from the same family under the rubble. Five bodies were pulled out and the remaining two relatives were feared dead, officials said.

Also Wednesday, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over Tyre again, and over Beirut proper for the first time. The flyers criticized Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, saying he was "playing with fire" and that the Lebanese people were "paying the price."

A Hezbollah statement said the group killed or wounded 10 Israeli soldiers Wednesday and destroyed a tank as it advanced toward the village of Qantara, north of the Israeli border. The Israeli army said 15 soldiers were wounded in overnight clashes.

On Tuesday, at least 19 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Rescuers pulled 28 additional corpses from the wreckage of attacks the day before, raising the death toll to 77 Lebanese killed Monday, the highest since the war began.

Israel reported five soldiers killed Tuesday but no civilians.

Diplomatic efforts were moving slowly, and Israeli Cabinet ministers pushing for a wider offensive said there's no guarantee a cease-fire deal would, in fact, neutralize Hezbollah. Israel is particularly skeptical of a Lebanese proposal to dispatch 15,000 soldiers to south Lebanon after a cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

"We will not agree to a situation in which the diplomatic solution will not promise us stability and quiet for many years," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Hezbollah has fired more than 3,100 rockets at Israeli towns in a month of fighting.

Even the most dovish member of the Security Cabinet, Ofir Pines-Paz, agreed with Peretz.

"The relentless firing (of rockets) has to be stopped, and we have to take military measures to do this, if the diplomatic efforts are not working," he told Israel Army Radio before Wednesday's meeting.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have been stop-and-go, and Lebanon's proposal to deploy troops on the border appeared to have taken Israel by surprise.

Israel has long demanded a deployment of Lebanese forces in the border area, but only coupled with a serious effort by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. Israel believes Lebanese forces are not strong or determined enough to do the job alone, and would like to see a multinational force in the area, as well.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora praised Hezbollah's resistance, but said it was time for Lebanon to "impose its full control, authority and presence" nationwide _ as directed in previous U.N. resolutions that also called for the government to disarm Hezbollah.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the proposal was significant, but President Bush warned against leaving a vacuum into which Hezbollah and its sponsors are able to move more weapons.

While Bush said a U.N. Security Council resolution was needed quickly, the council put off for at least one day voting on a U.S.-French cease-fire proposal. The delay was to allow three leading Arab officials to present arguments that the resolution was heavily tilted in favor of Israel and did not "take Lebanon's interest and stability into account."

Both the U.S. and French envoys to the U.N. indicated there might be room for limited compromise.

"Obviously we want to hear from the Arab League ... and then we'll decide where to go from there," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.

French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere promised to take Lebanon's stance into account.

Since the fighting began, at least 700 people have died on the Lebanese side of the conflict.

The death toll in an Israeli airstrike on a Shiite neighborhood in south Beirut on Monday has risen to at least 41, with 61 wounded, Lebanese security officials said Wednesday.

The Chiah suburb, next to a Christian area, had been spared attacks that left vast swaths of other southern suburbs in rubble. Many Shiite residents of Dahiyah had moved to Chiah because of its relative safety.

One of the most tragic stories was that of Ali Rmeity. He was badly wounded and winced with pain in the Mount Lebanon hospital near Beirut. Three of his children were dead and his only surviving son was in intensive care. He hadn't been told because doctors said they feared the 45-year-old could not stand the shock.

The Israeli toll stood at 103 killed -- 36 civilians and 67 soldiers. Fifteen Israeli soldiers were wounded in fierce nighttime battles in south Lebanon, the army said. Ten of the soldiers were lightly hurt.


8/9/2006 09:38:25

[theone666]

In pictures: Lebanon conflict

Wednesday, 9 August 2006, 17:23 GMT 18:23 UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4777001.stm

[theone666]

Thursday, 10 August 2006, 04:16 GMT 05:16 UK

Israeli armoured columns have pushed into Lebanese territory, as troops continue operations against Hezbollah.
An Israeli army spokesman said the aim of the overnight raid was to quell rocket fire from the town of Khiam, about 7km (four miles) from the border.

The move did not mark the start of a deeper push approved by the government earlier on Wednesday, he added.

The security cabinet authorised a push towards the Litani River - which lies up to 30km (18 miles) into Lebanon.

Israel says the objective of the planned wider offensive is to destroy Hezbollah positions in the region and prevent the group from firing rockets into Israel.

The Israeli army also said on Wednesday that 15 of its soldiers had died in clashes in Lebanese border villages on Wednesday, the highest number in a single day since the conflict began.

It added that 40 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the fighting.

Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into Israel during the day, but no casualties were reported.

Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat told the BBC he did not understand why Israel was continuing its offensive when Lebanon's government - with the agreement of Hezbollah - had offered to deploy troops in the south.

"We have a real proposal, two days ago, to send the Lebanese army there to make a real peace zone," he said.

"So we didn't understand their reply. They really want war."

But Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said that without "concrete action" from continuing UN negotiations, Israeli could not "sit by idly" as its cities were bombarded by Hezbollah rockets.

Diplomatic obstacles

At the UN, diplomats are attempting to reword a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire, to take in Lebanese and Arab League demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

On Wednesday differences surfaced again between France and the US - which co-sponsored the original draft - leading some diplomats to express concerns that diplomacy could collapse.

But the BBC's Bridget Kendall at UN headquarters says that there is now a mood of cautious optimism.

The five permanent members of the Security Council held a late-night meeting focusing on the main sticking points - how to get agreement on a ceasefire and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon, without allowing Hezbollah to rebuild their positions.

Correspondents say the members states are considering a French proposal to deploy Lebanese forces alongside the existing UN force, which would be strengthened, as the Israelis begin a phased withdrawal.

The US has yet to respond - so far it has insisted that any Israeli withdrawal can only follow the deployment of a new, robust multi-national force.

The new proposal is being discussed in members states' capitals before talks resume on Thursday.

Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, on Wednesday commented publicly for the first time on the original draft, describing it as "unfair and unjust".

Correspondents say there is still a possibility that the vote - first mooted for early this week - could take place this week, although it may be delayed further.

More than 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the month-old conflict, the Lebanese government has said.

More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also died.

Israel invaded Lebanon after two of its soldiers were captured by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid on 12 July.

[theone666]

By RAVI NESSMAN, AP

JERUSALEM (Aug. 10) - Israel has put its massive new ground offensive into southern Lebanon on hold for two or three days to give the U.N. Security Council more time to come to an agreement on a cease-fire, an Israeli Cabinet minister and senior officials said Thursday.

Israel's Security Cabinet on Wednesday approved an expanded ground offensive in Lebanon, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to put the campaign on hold temporarily to see whether diplomatic efforts will produce results, a senior Israeli government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Asked by Israel Radio about the delay, Cabinet minister Rafi Eitan said: "There are diplomatic considerations. There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in he area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders."

The United Nations has been under tremendous pressure to agree quickly on a cease-fire to end the fighting that has caused widespread destruction across southern Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters. Israeli officials implied they would halt the new offensive if a cease-fire agreement removes Hezbollah from the border.

Diplomatic efforts to reach a quick U.N. resolution have faltered over differences between Washington and Paris on an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. France backed Lebanon's call for Israeli troops to pull out once hostilities end, while the United States supported Israel's insistence on staying until a robust international force is deployed. Lebanon has offered to send troops to patrol the border region.

Despite the delay in the offensive, Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, entered several southern Lebanese towns early Thursday and took up positions, witnesses said.

Hezbollah said its guerrillas were engaged in "a violent confrontation" with Israeli forces whose tanks tried to advance toward the border town of Khiam, the group's Al-Manar television reported. Israel Army Radio reported that heavy battles were in progress in south Lebanese villages across from Israel's Galilee panhandle, hard hit by rockets.

No further information was immediately available.

The new advances came a day after Israel suffered its highest death toll in a single day, with 15 soldiers killed. The fighting has killed at least 829 people on both sides.

The dispute between the co-sponsors of the draft Security Council resolution - France and the U.S. - sparked a flurry of meetings Wednesday and raised the possibility of rival U.S. and French resolutions - or no resolution at all for the time being.

The White House said Wednesday neither Israel nor Hezbollah should escalate their war. Press secretary Tony Snow said the U.S. message was for both sides.

French President Jacques Chirac appealed for rapid agreement.

"The most immoral of solutions would be to accept the current situation and give up on an immediate cease-fire," he said.

In a televised speech, meanwhile, Hezbollah's leader taunted the Israelis.

"If you enter our land, we will throw you out by force and we will turn the land of our invaluable south into your graveyard," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said. "We will be waiting for you at every village, at every valley. Thousands of courageous holy warriors are waiting for you."

Nasrallah rejected a draft U.N. resolution that would temporarily let Israeli troops remain in south Lebanon and take defensive action.

"The least we can describe this (draft resolution) is as unfair and unjust. It has given Israel more than it wanted and more than it was looking for," he said. He also signaled Hezbollah's intention to step up attacks, calling on Israeli Arabs to leave the northern city of Haifa so Hezbollah could pound it with rockets and not worry about killing fellow Muslims.

Israel's expanded ground offensive would seek to force Hezbollah guerrillas - and their short-range rockets - out of southern Lebanon and past the Litani River, about 18 miles north of the border. If successful, it would leave Israel in control of a security zone that it evacuated six years ago after a bloody 18-year occupation.

Israeli officials said Wednesday before the delay that the new offensive was meant to run parallel to the cease-fire talks.

"Israel is still working for a diplomatic solution, preferably in the Security Council," said Isaac Herzog, a member of Israel's Security Cabinet, which voted Wednesday to approve the new ground offensive. "We cannot wait forever, we have a million civilians living in bomb shelters, and we have to protect them."

Other officials said privately that the offensive was aimed at pushing the Security Council to take fast action, as well as to clear Hezbollah from south Lebanon.

"The Israeli decision today is taken in absence of concrete steps by the international community to deal with the situation in Lebanon. Such steps would of course make an Israeli military operation superfluous," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "Israel understands fully that the real solution is diplomatic."

Before the Cabinet decision, fighting intensified in the border strip that 10,000 Israeli troops were already occupying four miles into southern Lebanon.

Fifteen Israeli soldiers were killed Wednesday, the military said, the highest one-day total in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Nine died when Hezbollah anti-tank rockets hit a building and one was killed by an Israeli tank shell, the military said. The military said 38 soldiers were wounded in battles across south Lebanon.

Israel also hit Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp with an airstrike, killing at least two people. Israeli attacks Wednesday killed eight Lebanese civilians, according to Lebanese officials, and three guerrillas, according to Hezbollah.

An Israeli TV station, quoting unidentified sources, said Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were among the Hezbollah dead. The Israeli military was unable to confirm the report. Israel has charged that Iran is aiding Hezbollah on the ground as well as supplying the guerrillas with weapons. Iran has denied the charges.

Israeli warplanes also dropped leaflets over the southern port city of Tyre and over Beirut proper for the first time. The fliers criticized Nasrallah, saying he was "playing with fire" and that the Lebanese people were "paying the price."

Hezbollah fired at least 170 rockets into Israel on Wednesday, the army said.

Since the fighting began, at least 711 people have died on the Lebanese side of the conflict. The Israeli death toll stood at 118, including 36 civilians and 82 soldiers.

Israel's Security Cabinet was told a new offensive could mean 100 to 200 more military deaths, according to a participant. Military officials said it would take the army several days to reach the Litani and then several more weeks to rid that area of Hezbollah's fighters and rocket launchers.

"The assessment is (the new offensive) will last 30 days," said Trade Minister Eli Yishai, a member of the Security Cabinet who abstained from the vote. "I think it will take a lot longer."

The offensive was expected to eliminate 70-80 percent of Hezbollah's short-range rocket launchers, senior military officials said.

The offensive was approved 9-0, with three abstentions at an intense six-hour meeting. During the meeting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and they spoke for half an hour, Israeli officials said. Upon his return to the room, Olmert told the ministers the offensive would be accompanied by a diplomatic initiative.

The government's decision came two days after Lebanon offered to send 15,000 soldiers to patrol the border region, a key Israeli demand intended to prevent attacks on Israel. The current fighting began when Hezbollah fighters crossed into Israel on July 12, killing three soldiers and capturing two others.

In a major shift, Nasrallah said Hezbollah supported a deployment by the Lebanese army after a cease-fire is declared and Israel leaves.

Israeli officials remained skeptical of the Lebanese offer and were not convinced Lebanon's army would take concrete action to stop Hezbollah attacks.

"It is important that the Lebanese army will be accompanied by an international force that will enable it to reach the south in an organized manner, and to leave the place clean of Hezbollah," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.

Some soldiers said Israel was having trouble controlling even the small strip it was already occupying.

"The biggest problem is still the existence of Hezbollah fighters all over the place, even though we have most of the territory under control," said Maj. Avi Ortal, an officer in a reserve brigade in southwestern Lebanon.

"Hezbollah are good fighters. They know the territory. They live there and they have had six years to build compounds," he said.


08-10-06 01:38 EDT

[theone666]

Thursday, 10 August 2006, 00:15 GMT 01:15 UK

The war in Lebanon and northern Israel should not distract attention from events in Gaza, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned.
The killing of civilians, including children, in Gaza was "utterly unjustifiable", his spokesman said.

Three people died in an Israeli strike on Wednesday, including a little girl.

Israel began operations in Gaza on 28 June after the capture of its soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit. Palestinians say more than 170 people have been killed.

'Two-state solution'


On Wednesday Mr Annan expressed fears that the war in Lebanon and northern Israel could overshadow events in Gaza and "the urgent need to work towards a solution to the current crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory".

"The continued killing and injuring of hundreds of civilians, including children, in Gaza, by Israeli forces is utterly unjustifiable," spokesman Stephane Dujarric added.

He voiced particular concern about the "arbitrary arrests" of senior Palestinians including Aziz Dweik, the Palestinian parliamentary speaker detained by Israel on Sunday.

This "further undermines the Palestinian institutions which must be preserved if a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to be achieved", he said.

Mr Annan also reiterated his call for an end to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants firing from Gaza into Israel, and urged renewed dialogue.

Missile strike

At least one Israeli missile was launched at a citrus grove in Gaza City, a site used by militants for training, witnesses said.

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees - one of three militant groups which jointly captured Cpl Shalit six weeks ago - said two of its members were killed.

A three-year-old girl also died, and at least three people were injured - one of them a child who is in critical condition, witnesses told Reuters news agency.

The Israeli army confirmed that it had attacked what it described as a "terrorist training camp" in Gaza, but gave no further details.

[theone666]

Thursday, 10 August 2006, 07:21 GMT 08:21 UK

Israeli troops have seized the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, a day after the cabinet decided to expand ground operations, eyewitnesses say.
Troops entered the town, 9km (5.5 miles) into Lebanon, as well as nearby villages overlooking the Litani river.

Forces also advanced on the town of Khiam, to quell Hezbollah rocket fire.

The army says the action is not the start of a broader offensive, which officials say has been delayed to give more time for diplomacy on the crisis.

Wednesday saw fierce fighting in southern Lebanon, with 15 Israeli soldiers killed in action - the highest number in a single day since the conflict began almost a month ago.

More than 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have now been killed in the hostilities, the Lebanese government has said. More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.

Threats and diplomacy

On Wednesday the Israeli cabinet backed a push towards the Litani river, which lies up to 30km (18 miles) from the border.

Speaking hours after the Israelis announced their expanded ground offensive, Hezbollah's leader said his guerrillas would turn southern Lebanon into a graveyard for Israeli soldiers.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah endorsed a government plan to send 15,000 Lebanese soldiers to the south.

But he repeated his opposition to the idea of sending international troops to the border region to disarm the Shia militia, as demanded by the Israelis and a draft UN resolution.

At the UN, diplomats are attempting to reword the draft calling for a ceasefire, to take in Lebanese and Arab League demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

On Wednesday differences surfaced again between France and the US - which co-sponsored the original draft - leading some diplomats to express concerns that diplomacy could collapse.

But the BBC's Bridget Kendall at UN headquarters says that there is now a mood of cautious optimism.

The five permanent members of the Security Council held a late-night meeting focusing on the main sticking points - how to get agreement on a ceasefire and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon, without allowing Hezbollah to rebuild their positions.

Correspondents say the members states are considering a French proposal to deploy Lebanese forces alongside the existing UN force, which would be strengthened, as the Israelis begin a phased withdrawal.

The US has yet to respond - so far it has insisted that any Israeli withdrawal can only follow the deployment of a new, robust multi-national force.

The new proposal is being discussed in members states' capitals before talks resume on Thursday.