Saw a news report last night of an Australian journalist who was in Beirut. It's pretty much flattened. Disgraceful.
Israel grabs two Hizbollah fighters amid UN fury
Monday Jul 24 09:06 AEST
Israel has captured two fighters from Hezbollah as it kept up its blistering air and ground blitz on Lebanon despite accusations from the UN relief chief it was "violating humanitarian law".
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to visit Israel today amid mounting calls for a halt to a conflict that has killed close to 400 people in just 12 days and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland, in Beirut to launch a urgent appeal for funds for half a million people made homeless by the conflict, made no attempt to hide his fury as he toured bombed-out areas of Beirut.
"This is destruction of block after block of mainly residential areas. I would say it seems to be an excessive use of force in an area with so many citizens," he told reporters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hizbollah stronghold.
Asked if the Israeli raid that destroyed the burned-out buildings before him constituted a war crime, he replied: "It makes it a violation of humanitarian law."
According to Israeli military radio, the army captured two militants from Hizbollah in the south Lebanese village of Marun al-Ras, seized by Israel in a major incursion last week, and brought them back to Israel.
The capture appeared a tit-for-tat response to Hizbollah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 which started the current crisis and spurred Israel to embark on an offensive to defeat the Shiite militant group.
At least twelve civilians, including a Lebanese press photographer, were killed Sunday in new Israeli air strikes across Lebanon on the 12th day of Israel's punishing war on Hizbollah.
Shiite guerrillas responded with a new hail of rocket fire on Israel's third city of Haifa, killing one person in his car and a second as he worked in a warehouse.
Streams of people, many waving white flags, are making a desperate trek from southern Lebanon after Israel ordered them to leave their homes, raising fears it was planning a largescale ground invasion.
The Israeli military early today fired five shells on the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, wounding six people, in the first such strike in its offensive.
At least 362 people have been killed in Israel's massive blitz against Lebanon which was launched after the capture of two soldiers by Hizbollah guerrillas in a deadly border attack on July 12. A total of 37 Israelis have died.
Rice has vehemently opposed a ceasefire as a "false promise", saying the only way forwards is a long-term solution which sees Hezbollah halt rocket attacks into Israel and release two captured Israeli soldiers.
The top US diplomat, who has also urged Israeli restraint, will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and also see Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after arriving today.
On Wednesday, she will face desperate Lebanese leaders, UN officials and Europeans demanding a ceasefire and Arab allies who reportedly refused to host her visit, dismayed at US strategy.
Before her departure, Rice and President Bush received an impassioned call for a ceasefire from visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who was also reported to have presented concrete plans for a truce.
"We requested a ceasefire to allow for the cessation of hostilities that would allow ... Lebanon to establish sovereignty over the whole of its territory," Prince Saud told reporters after the White House meeting.
Saudi officials said he proposed an "exchange of prisoners" between Hizbollah and Israel, something the Israeli government has so far ruled out without the prior release of two soldiers captured by the Shiite militant group in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12.
There has been mounting international criticism of the Israeli offensive, which has left Lebanon virtually cut off from the world, made hundreds of thousands refugees in their own country and destroyed billions of dollars of infrastructure.
Even a minister from close US ally Britain, which had drawn Arab anger for appearing to back US support of the bombardment, has described Israel's tactics as "very difficult to understand".
Israel's ambassador to the United States rejected criticism of the military offensive, saying it had dealt a "real blow" to Hizbollah, damaging the group's arsenal and killing a "few hundred" of its fighters.
Daniel Ayalon said the military campaign was "not easy" but Israel was making progress, adding: "And in a few days, you will see a totally different situation."
But in the first openly expressed reservations by an Israeli minister on the success of the offensive, minister without portfolio Eitan Cabel said: "I admit I had hoped for better from the army."
According to General Udi Adam General, the commander of Israel's northern military region, the Israeli offensive will continue for "several weeks".
Syria, blamed by the United States for stoking the conflict, warned that if Israel invaded Lebanon it would have no choice but to respond.
"If Israel makes a land entry into Lebanon, they can get to within 20 kilometres of Damascus," Information Minister Moshen Bilal told the Spanish newspaper ABC.
"What will we do? Stand by with our arms folded? Absolutely not. Without any doubt Syria will intervene in the conflict."
US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton rebuffed a previous Syrian offer of dialogue in characteristically blunt fashion, saying that "Syria doesn't need dialogue to know what they need to do."
Olmert, whose army is also fighting a second deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip that has left over 100 Palestinians dead, said he would accept a peacekeeping force in Lebanon "made up of troops from European Union countries".
Its mandate "will have to include control of the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, deployment in south Lebanon and support for the Lebanese army," he said.
Israel said it opened an 80-kilometre by eight-kilometre safe passage to Beirut for ships and aircraft, a humanitarian corridor to allow aid to the Lebanese.
Israel's air and sea blockade put Lebanon's only international airport out of action, and the bombing of houses, roads, bridges, factories, warehouses and trucks has created scenes reminiscent of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Foreign governments have been forced to lay on a flotilla of ferries, warships and cruise liners to evacuate stranded nationals, mainly to the nearby resort island of Cyprus which has been battling to find temporary accommodation and flights for the estimated 70,000 evacuees at peak summer holiday season.
Originally posted by PhilodorNo, this is a story about a Lebanese family, evicted from their home by the israelis and then bombed on the road as they fled.
Unfortunately civilians are suffering as a result of the Hezbollah fanatics attacks on Israel.
This is a direct result of the israeli military action, which, at best, is grossly disproprtianate to any action Hezbollah have taken and at worst is simple murder.
Originally posted by RedmikeThe ultimate blame lies with Hezbollah who are responsible for inflicting themselves on the Lebanese people.
No, this is a story about a Lebanese family, evicted from their home by the israelis and then bombed on the road as they fled.
This is a direct result of the israeli military action, which, at best, is grossly disproprtianate to any action Hezbollah have taken and at worst is simple murder.
Originally posted by PhilodorWell, the ultimate blame lies with the illegal creation of the zionist state, but maybe that's too 'ultimate' for you.
The ultimate blame lies with Hezbollah who are responsible for inflicting themselves on the Lebanese people.
What nationality do you think these Hezbollah fighters are? Where should they be, if you think they are 'inlicting themselves' on Lebanon?
Originally posted by RedmikeDont worry comrade, when the revolution of the proletariat comes, we will be executed together.
Well, the ultimate blame lies with the illegal creation of the zionist state, but maybe that's too 'ultimate' for you.
What nationality do you think these Hezbollah fighters are? Where should they be, if you think they are 'inlicting themselves' on Lebanon?