USA: Lebanon asks UN for international probe of Qana while Bush says he'll seek UN action to end the fighting in Lebanon, though not immediate ceasefire

A top Lebanese official asked the U.N. Security Council on Monday (July 31) for an international inquiry into the Israeli raid on the southern Lebanese village of Qana that killed at least 54 civilians, mostly children. Tareq Mitri, Lebanon's acting foreign minister, also renewed a government plea for an immediate end to the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah, which has raged since July 12. "The onslaught continues unabated. It has to stop," Mitri, who is also Lebanon's culture minister, told the council. "I've also come to ask for setting in motion a process of international investigation with regard to the crime of Qana. Qana the second," Mitri added. While U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a cease-fire could be forged this week, Israel said on Monday it would not stop fighting despite an international outcry over its deadly air strike on a building in Qana a day earlier. Israel said it was unaware civilians had been in the building and accused Hizbollah of launching rockets from Qana. It asserted its right to self-defenee after Hizbollah crossed over into Israel 19 days ago to seize two Israeli soldiers and later rained rockets on northern Israel. "The spilled blood of the children in Qana deserves more much more than expressions of regret. Alllow me to say Mr. President that some of us are tired of listening to the kind of self righteous discourse about self defence we have heard at nauseum," Mitri said. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman, in a drawn-out tit-for-tat exchange with Mitri, said he agreed with much of what the Lebanese official said. He stressed, however, that Israel had no territorial designs on Lebanon but was forced to act against a "monstrosity" -- an apparent reference to Hizbollah. Lebanon had first been taken over by Syria then "it has allowed itself to become hostage and to be taken hostage by terrorists of the worst kind. The PLO in the 80s and the Hizbollah in the 90s. And I ask the minister in all candidness and in all fairness, when will Lebanon take its fate into its own hands?" Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush repeated that he wanted a sustainable end to the violence in southern Lebanon. But he resisted an immediate cease-fire despite growing pressure a day after a deadly Israeli air strike. While calling on Israel to show more restraint, the United States has said the fault for the bombing lies with Hizbollah and Bush underscored that view in a visit later at the port of Miami, Florida. "Israel is exercising its right to defend itself and we mourn the loss of innocent life," the president said. Bush also accused Iran on Monday (July 31) of supplying weapons and financial support to Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and called on Tehran to stop the practice. "Iran must end its financial support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups like Hizbollah," Bush said, adding: "Syria must end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon." President Bush will meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when he returns to Washington later on Monday. She said she believed a truce could be reached this week between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

ITN Source | August 1, 2006

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