LEBANON: Hospitals in Tyre are flooded with casualties in the wake of Israeli attacks

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to Lebanon on Monday (July 24) and insisted Hizbollah must release two Israeli soldiers and pull back from the border before any ceasefire, Lebanese politicians said. Rice extended sympathy to the government in Beirut, a city pounded repeatedly by Israeli air strikes since the 13-day-old war began, but offered little hope for an immediate end to the conflict. Casualties of Israel's bombardment continued to pour into Tyre's local hospital. The United Nations is still waiting for Israel to guarantee safe passage of aid to areas of Lebanon hardest hit in 12 days of bombardment and Israel has pledged to let ships carrying aid to berth in Beirut, which it has blockaded for nearly two weeks. But the crucial issue was distribution within the country. Israel's air raids have damaged many roads in south Lebanon, where fighting between the Israeli army and Hizbollah guerrillas has made movement difficult and dangerous. Israeli bombing has displaced half a million people in Lebanon and wrecked installations worth an estimated $1 billion. Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, launched a U.N. appeal for $150 million in aid. "(This is) an appeal for three months and the clock has started ticking. We will in that three month period ask for 150 million dollars. About ten million of those for those who have fled from Lebanon to Syria," Egeland said. Mourners buried a 23-year-old photographer in her home town of Tripoli on Monday (July 24) a day after she was killed by an Israeli missile strike in Southern Lebanon. Family, friend and colleagues, wept as they carried the body of Layal Najib through the streets of the northern city. Military officials were among the crowd at the mosque and honour guards placed wreaths on her coffin. Witnesses said the Lebanese photographer was killed near Qana, a village east of the port city of Tyre during an Israeli bombardment. Colleagues said she had supplied photographs to several international agencies. She was the first fatality among journalists covering the war. More than 368 people have been killed in Lebanon and 37 in Israel. Lebanese Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh said the onslaught has wounded more than 1,550 people. Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres has questioned Lebanon's casualty toll and said the Jewish state's army was taking steps to make sure no civilian targets were hit. Earlier in the day Hizbollah said it had shot down an Israeli helicopter and hit five tanks, inflicting casualties in fierce battles that erupted after Israeli forces pushed north from a border village. Arab television channels said four Israeli soldiers had been killed. Israel's army said two airmen died in the helicopter crash, which it said was probably caused by a technical fault. The tank thrust towards Bint Jbeil, about 4 km (2.5 miles) inside Lebanon, was one of several recent Israeli forays in search of Hizbollah fighters and rocket-launchers. Israel plans a sweep of Bint Jbeil, which army spokeswoman Brigadier-General Miri Regev said had become a "centre for Hizbollah terrorists" firing Katyusha rockets across the border. Israeli air raids killed at least seven people and wounded 50 in south Lebanon. Bombs also hit a Shi'ite area of Beirut. Hizbollah rockets struck Haifa, Nahariya and the border town of Shlomi, wounding at least four people. Israel, after initially dismissing the idea, now says it would accept an international force to dislodge Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbollah guerrillas from south Lebanon. But just as Hizbollah has fought Israeli attempts to drive it from the south, it would surely resist military coercion by any international force, assuming one could be assembled. Several European Union nations said they were ready to contribute to a U.N. peace force for Lebanon, but EU officials said questions remained over how it could fulfil its mission. Lebanese leader Siniora has said only a broad political deal will work. This should include a prisoner swap and an Israeli pullout from the disputed Shebaa Farms area to create conditions in which Hizbollah could disarm and the Lebanese army take over. Condoleezza Rice is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before discussing the crisis with European and Arab officials in Rome on Wednesday. Israel's Lebanon offensive coincided with an Israeli military push into the Gaza Strip to try to recover a soldier captured by Palestinian militants on June 25. Israeli shelling killed five people and wounded several others in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said. Israel has killed 120 Palestinians in a nearly month-long offensive in Gaza to free the soldier and halt rocket fire.

ITN Source | July 25, 2006

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