LEBANON: Fighting continues in Lebanon, with Israeli aircraft fire cutting the main artery for aid supplies to civilians in the south.

As diplomatic efforts to end the 27-day-old war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas stalled, air raids in Lebanon killed at least 19 people on Monday (August 7, 2006). Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said more than 40 more were killed, while sheltering from fighting in south Lebanon's border village of Houla. Israeli jets pounded a southern suburb of Beirut, a stronghold of the Hizbollah guerrilla group. Several large explosions echoed through the city and black smoke could be seen rising from the area which has been heavily hit over the past month. In other parts of the country, six members of the same family were killed in the southern Lebanese village of Ghazzaniyeh, when Israeli jets struck their house. One civilian was killed and 14 were wounded in strikes in Ghaziyeh, just south of the port city of Sidon. Israeli jets also struck the eastern Bekaa Valley, a Hizbollah stronghold. Israeli warplanes continued to pound villages south of Tyre. Witnesses said heavy bombardment was heard overnight coming from the southern villages. An Israeli air strike hit the last crossing over Lebanon's Litani river on Monday, cutting off the main artery for aid to the southern port of Tyre and hard-hit areas nearby, humanitarian groups said. They said the bombing of a makeshift bridge had blocked a convoy of food, medical aid and fuel to Tyre, which has seen an increase in wounded from heavy fighting this week. United Nations trucks and civilian convoys were stranded on the bridge, which witnesses said has been severely damaged. Also on Monday, Israeli warplanes destroyed a missile launcher near the South Lebanese village of Qana. The Israeli army claims this was the launcher that was used by Hizbollah to hit the Israeli city of Haifa on Sunday (August 6), killing 3 people and wounding up to 121 according to the local media. A police commander said the rockets slammed into two adjacent houses, causing them to partially collapse. Several people were briefly trapped in the rubble. The Israeli army later said it also destroyed a launcher near the village of Sadikin. Sunday's death toll was the highest for Israel in a single day since the start of the Lebanon war. Hizbollah rockets killed 12 soldiers, in addition to the three civilians. Hizbollah, whose snatching of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12 sparked the war, says it will fight on until Israel stops bombing Lebanon and pulls out its forces. The Lebanese Health Minister, Mohammad Khalifeh, says Israel's offensive against Hizbollah has killed 925 people, mostly civilians, and left 75 missing and presumed dead. 94 Israelis have been killed during the conflict. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has demanded a "quick and decisive ceasefire" and called for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon.

ITN Source | August 7, 2006

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