LEBANON: French priem Minister Dominque de Villepin calls for an immediate truce in the Lebanon-Israel conflict/Lebanese Prime Minister Foud Siniora says that Israel is a "terrorist country"

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called on Monday (July 17) for an immediate truce in the Lebanon-Israeli conflict on humanitarian grounds. De Villepin was speaking after meeting the Lebanese government in Beirut in an effort to find a solution to the confrontation between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Israel has inflicted billions of dollars of damage on Lebanon's infrastructure and is trying to set the country back 50 years, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in an interview with Reuters. Israeli planes have hit roads, bridges, ports and airports since Lebanon-based Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday, killing more than 200 people, almost all civilians. Fuel storage tanks, communications equipment and several private factories and petrol stations have also been destroyed. "Israel now is a terrorist country that is committing every day a terrorist act," Siniora said in an interview. "What Israel has been doing is cutting the country to pieces." Siniora, the head of Lebanon's first anti-Syrian government in nearly two decades, said material losses were in the billions of dollars on top of losses to businesses and lost investment. "What Israel has been trying to do is take the country 50 years backward," he said. Lebanon, which was enjoying what promised to be a bumper summer tourist season, had rebuilt itself since the 1975-1990 civil war, which left much of it in ruins. It is struggling to cut a public debt which is worth almost twice the country's GDP at over $35 billion, mostly built up after the war. Apart from the damage to infrastructure, most shops and offices have been shut since the crisis began, tourists have fled and the stock market was closed on Monday after two straight days of losses last week. Siniora has distanced his government from Hizbollah's cross-border attack last week and has said his government should not be held responsible for it. Hizbollah guerrillas have fired rockets deep into northern Israel since the abduction, killing 12 Israeli civilians in addition to eight soldiers who died in the initial Hizbollah attack and four sailors who died in a Hizbollah rocket attack on an Israeli warship. "We are paying the price for something we didn't do," said Siniora, adding that 100,000 people had left their homes due to fighting. Siniora fought back tears on Saturday when he described Lebanon as a "disaster zone" and called for aid and a ceasefire.

ITN Source | July 18, 2006

Tags:. .planes. .fuel. .captured. .billions. .struggling