Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon to attack
Hezbollah bases on the border, a government spokesman said Monday.
Israel's six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah following the
capture of two Israeli soldiers earlier had been an aerial
campaign.
The government spokesman, Asaf Shariv, said the Israeli army
chief of staff confirmed that ground troops were also in
Lebanon.
Earlier Monday, Israeli fighter bombers pummeled Lebanese
infrastructure, setting Beirut's port ablaze and hitting a
Hezbollah stronghold in attacks that killed at least 17 people and
wounded at least 53 others in overnight attacks, Lebanese security
officials said as the death toll from the conflict rose to more
than 200 - 196 in Lebanon and 24 in Israel. Hezbollah retaliated by
firing rockets that flew farther into Israel than ever before.
Israel also kept up pressure in the Gaza Strip as it searched
for a kidnapped soldier, bombing the empty Palestinian Foreign
Ministry building for the second time in less than a week in what
it said was a warning to the ruling Hamas party.
Israel launched the offensive June 28 after Hamas-linked
militants carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost,
killing two soldiers and capturing another. Lebanon's Hezbollah
guerrillas joined the fray last week, attacking a military patrol
in northern Israel, killing eight soldiers and capturing two.
Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets in
Lebanon overnight as its military sought punishment for the barrage
of 20 rockets on Haifa, the country's third-largest city and one
that had not been hit before the current round of fighting began
July 12.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "far-reaching
consequences" for the Haifa attack. The eight deaths made it
Hezbollah's deadliest strike ever on Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also arrived in
Syria for talks with the government on the crisis. Syria and Iran
have applauded Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, which
triggered the offensive.
Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran of providing Lebanese
guerrillas with sophisticated weapons, saying the missiles that hit
Haifa had greater range and heavier warheads than those Hezbollah
had fired before.
Speaking on the margin of the Group of Eight summit in St.
Petersburg, Russia, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the
fighting would not stop until the conditions for a cease-fire were
created.
"The only way is if we have a deployment of international forces
that can stop bombardment coming into Israel," he said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to Israel to spare
civilian lives and infrastructure. The G-8 nations, who had
struggled to reach a consensus on the escalating warfare between
Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, have expressed concern
on the "rising civilian casualties" and urged both sides to stop
the violence.?
Foreigners continued to flee and several nations moved to get
their citizens out. Russia sent an airliner to Jordan on Monday as
it prepared to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon and the
Palestinian territories. Britain also airlifted 40 of its citizens
from Lebanon over the weekend and another group was taken out
Monday, Ambassador James Watt said. A French ship was due to arrive
in the port later Monday to evacuate Europeans.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that despite
Israel's attacks, the guerrillas were "in their full strength and
power" and that their "missile stockpiles are still full."
"When the Zionists behave like there are no rules and no red
lines and no limits to the confrontation, it is our right to behave
in the same way," Nasrallah said in a televised address, looking
tired. He said Hezbollah had hit Haifa because of Israel's strikes
on Lebanese civilians.
Syria and Jordan on Monday sent relief to the Lebanese people
who had gone through Israeli bombardment over the past six
days.
Syrian Ministry of Health provided Lebanon with six tons of
medical and nutritional materials, the official SANA news agency
reported.
"Since the first day of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, Syria
has sent 18 tons of aids for different needs," a ministry source
said.
Meanwhile, the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Foundation sent
urgent relief to Lebanon and the Palestinians to help them overcome
the ordeal inflicted by the consistent Israeli aggressions, local
media reported.
A total of 20 trucks loaded with 300 tons of tents,
pharmaceuticals, children food and other foodstuffs left for
Lebanon while another 25 trucks loaded with 350 tons of relief
drove to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Syria has also received hundreds of Lebanese families at the
Institution for Blinds, in cooperation with the Naba Civil
Association, and offered them all required needs, SANA said. "There
are enough places to receive all the incomers," said Labor and
Social Affairs Minister Diala al-Hajj Aref.
Aref said the ministry, along with the Secretariat General of
the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council, has set up centers on the
borders between the two countries to receive the Lebanese
people.
Syrian border crossings have become Lebanon's main outlet to the
outside world since Israel imposed air and sea blockade on the
country during a massive offensive launched on July 12 in response
to the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hezbollah.
Also on Monday, the UN Security Council held closed-door
consultations on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon
but failed to decide what the world body should do to stop the
bloodshed.
?
The 15-member council had convened on the same agenda Saturday,
reaching no agreement on adopting a statement calling for a
ceasefire, with Lebanon accusing the United States of blocking the
effort.
"Whatever measures can be taken, even humanitarian measures,
cannot be taken under fire," Nouhad Mahmoud, the Lebanese special
envoy, said. "That's the urgent thing ... without the ceasefire,
nothing can be achieved."
US Ambassador John Bolton said he expects no decision from the
council until a three-member UN crisis team dispatched to the
Middle East returns and reports back to the council.
The team, which Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to send to
the region last week, has already visited Egypt and is now holding
meetings with Lebanese officials in Beirut. The team also planned
to travel to Syria, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
Speaking to reporters after the council wrapped up the meeting,
Ibrahim Gambari, UN undersecretary general for political affairs,
said he briefed the council on the situation in the Middle
East.
Describing what was happening in the region as a "situation of
open war," he said the conflict would bring devastating
consequences to not only Lebanon and Israel, but also the entire
Middle East.
He also noted that the humanitarian situation in Lebanon "is
becoming more sever," saying the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs was dispatching a four-member team to Beirut
and Damascus to provide emergency humanitarian coordination
support.
French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said it was important
for the council to work on "a contribution for a sustainable
solution," noting that work towards such a lasting solution was
much more important than any resolution, press statement or other
declaration that could be produced quickly.
"There have been many thoughts and discussions going on and we
have to take stock of all these ideas and work on a contribution of
the council towards a sustainable solution," he replied to a
question about a proposed multinational force and other possible
long-term measures.
After Monday's consultations, the French and US ambassadors
called for the implementation of resolution 1559 adopted by the
council in September, 2004 which called for the withdrawal of all
remaining foreign forces from Lebanon, disbanding and disarmament
of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies, Xinhua News Agency July 18,
2006)
