To see the photos of the massacres committed by the Israelis, please visit these Links:
http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb/english/F/Info/Page.asp?PageID=138
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14273.htm
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/10533243.html
http://www.marchforjustice.com/shock&awe.php
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/GRAPHIC_Images_of_suffering_death_on_0719.html

Khiam Center's Trip to the South After the Israeli war:
Interview with the KRC's Secretary General Mr. Mohammed Safa

SOME OF THE DAILY PRESS RELEASES OF KRC
To view all the 33 Daily Press Releases, click here to Download file (8.31 MB)

Lebanon's Day 6: Lebanon Death Toll Rises!
Israel Continues Pounding Lebanon Despite Diplomacy to Stop Violence

Israel continued hammering Lebanese infrastructure Monday, with air strikes on Beirut's port and the already devastated southern suburbs of the capital amid diplomatic efforts to stop the violence. 
Meanwhile, foreign powers stepped up diplomatic efforts to stop the violence 
However, Israel threw cold water on the diplomatic initiative saying it was "too early" to discuss the creation of a new international peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. 

"At this moment it is too early to discuss this possibility," foreign ministry official Yigal Palmor told AFP. 
French President Jacques Chirac announced Monday that he will dispatch his premier Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to meet Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and "convey to him the support of France." 

In the overnight attacks, Israeli planes and artillery guns killed 17 people and wounded at least 53 others.
Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets overnight. Its military sought to punish Lebanon for Sunday's attack on Haifa. 
In their raids on Beirut Monday, Israeli planes killed two people in the harbor and started a fire in a parking lot at the harbor that was later extinguished.

The Israeli jets also destroyed a gas storage tank in the northern neighborhood of Dora and set fire to a fuel storage tank at Beirut airport, sending plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. The airport has been closed since Thursday, when Israeli jets blasted its runways. 
Israeli missiles also blasted southern Beirut, causing three explosions that shook the city. Local televisions showed devastation at what they said were factories hit by the raids.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, Israeli planes again hit the Beirut to Damascus highway killing two people. In the south a man perished in his car during an air strike on the Zahrani-Ghaziyeh bridge and three people were found dead in their vehicle after a raid on Rmeileh. (AP-AFP) 

Lebanon shudders under deadly strikes as toll soars
At least 46 killed in Lebanon Monday, toll passes 200
French PM calls for 'immediate humanitarian truce' in Lebanon

Evening Roundup: Lebanon Death Toll Rises Amid Increasing Hopes for a Diplomatic Breakthrough
As Israeli jets pounded Lebanon in a new wave of air raids Monday, diplomatic efforts to end the bloody confrontation between the Jewish state and Hizbullah, which has so far claimed over 200 lives, seemed to gain momentum. 
At least 46 Lebanese were killed in a day of Israeli strikes, the deadliest a missile attack on a minibus in Rmeileh south of Beirut that left 12 people dead, as world leaders scrambled to head off an all-out Middle East war. 
In a confrontational and emotional address to the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared the Jewish state was facing a "moment of truth" as he vowed to continue the six-day-old offensive against Hizbullah. 
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called for an immediate ceasefire as he held talks in Beirut and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also considering traveling to the region. 
Lebanese civilians have found themselves caught in the crossfire in a fierce flare-up of violence. The overall toll killed in Lebanon since last Wednesday reached 195, in addition to 12 soldiers. 
Wiping away tears and hugging loved ones, hundreds of foreigners prepared to flee blockaded Lebanon, packing into buses to head across the border into Syria or waiting to be shipped or airlifted out by their government. (AFP-Naharnet-AP)

To the Silent NGOs: 
History won't FORGIVE YOU! 
SHAME ON ALL THE SILENT NGOs WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES THE HUMAN RIGHT DEFENDERS !!
YOU ARE THE SHAME ON THE FACE OF HISTORY!
YOUR SILENCE IS PARTICIPATING IN THE MASSACRE! 
LEBANESE CIVILIANS ARE BEING MURDERED 
SHAME ON THE WORLD'S SILENCE
HISTORY WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU
LEBANESE CIVILIANS ARE BEING MURDERED 
AND THE WORLD IS SILENT
SHAME

Day 7 - July 18 :new massacre at 01:13 a.m.
A new massacre at 01:13 after midnight was committed by the Israeli terrorist army in Aytaroun village.
The martyrs are 13 and among them are 9 children from the same family (Awada family)

Israeli Offensive Continues for 7th Day With no Signs of Abating
The " 7-Days achievements" of the Israeli horror army:
240 martyrs
690 wounded ( 80 % have serious wounds - 35 % were subjected to Amputations )
UNICEF says Lebanon is caught in a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation with 500,000 people displaced by the Israeli onslaught 

Morning Roundup: Israeli Offensive Continues for 7th Day With no Signs of Abating

Israeli warplanes on Tuesday continued for the 7th day their air strikes on Lebanon by launching early morning raids on a Lebanese army base and on a coastal road north of Beirut Tuesday. 
Overnight, fighter jets continued pounding Beirut's southern suburbs and home for many Shiite families who have fled the devastated area seeking refuge with relatives as well as in schools and public parks. 
The warplanes also struck a military base in Kfarshima, a town just south of the capital, local television stations reported. There was no immediate confirmation from the Lebanese army. 
Shortly before daybreak, Israeli jets hit two trucks, one of them carrying concrete, on the coastal road in the port town of Byblos north of Beirut, local TV stations said. No casualties were reported. 
Apparently, the trucks were being targeted by the Israelis for fear they might be carrying arms or missiles for Hizbullah. 
The Byblos raid came after Israeli military officials said an air strike Monday had destroyed at least one long-range Iranian "Zalzal" missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv. 

In eastern Lebanon, Israeli warplanes fired four missiles on residential areas in the city of Baalbek, witnesses said. There was no word on casualties in the town which is also a Hizbullah stronghold. 
In the early hours of Tuesday, a woman, her two daughters and Sri Lankan maid were killed and four others wounded in an air strike on their villa in the coastal city of Tyre. 
The corpses of six other civilians were pulled out from a house belonging to two couples from the same family after an Israeli night raid on the border village of Aitaroun. Three children remained buried in the rubble, said village mayor Salim Murad.

In spite of the diplomatic activity in order to obtain a ceasefire, Israel showed no sign of abating. 
Israel's deputy chief of staff Major General Moshe Kaplinsky told AFP that the international pressure will "allow" the offensive to last "at least" another week. 
The United States, Israel's main ally, has backed the Jewish state's "right to defend itself," and calls by the European Union and United Nations for an end to hostilities have shown no effect on the Israeli offensive. 
Meanwhile, thousands of foreign residents of Lebanon are still seeking a way out of the country and in the first mass evacuation by sea to neighboring Cyprus, an Italian vessel carrying more than 300 people docked in the port of Larnaca. 
A Greek cruise ship carrying about 700 French citizens and other Europeans also arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday after leaving Beirut.
British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells told parliament in London that the Royal Navy could be faced with "the biggest evacuation since Dunkirk" -- when some 330,000 soldiers were evacuated by sea from France in 1940 -- while the United States was preparing to help potentially thousands of nationals flee. (AP-AFP-Naharnet) 

Evening Roundup: Israel Rejects Ceasefire and Foreigners Flee Amid Ongoing Violence

Israel rejected calls for a ceasefire Tuesday as it pounded a Lebanese army barracks and flattened homes on the seventh day of an assault that has killed at least 240 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for their lives.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora accused Israel of "committing massacres against Lebanese civilians and working to destroy everything that allows Lebanon to stay alive."
"The intensifying aggression in this barbaric way proves that Israel has decided to push Lebanon back 50 years," he said.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the relentless bombardment, saying it was aimed at obtaining the release of two Israeli soldiers and the disarmament of Hizbullah in line with a UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, the head of the Israeli army's northern command, warned that the campaign against Hizbullah would take more time.
"It could take days, it could take weeks," he told Israeli Army Radio. "I think that we should assume that it will take a few more weeks."
Tens of thousands of terrified foreigners and Lebanese are trying to flee the fighting, which has left a trail of devastation across many parts of Lebanon, particularly the south of the country and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
U.S. destroyer escorted a passenger ship, the Orient Queen, toward Beirut to evacuate some of the thousands of Americans still in Lebanon, but U.S. officials said it was uncertain when it would arrive. At least 120 Americans were ferried out by helicopters.
U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman told The Associated Press that around 1,000 people would leave each day starting Wednesday.
In attacks Tuesday, 11 members of Lebanon's armed forces -- which Israel is demanding to take back control of southern Lebanon from Hizbullah -- were killed in a strike on the army barracks at Jamhour east of Beirut. The dead included four officers, the military said. Another strike was launched on a barracks in Kfarshima southeast of the capital killing a passerby.
Combat jets also bombarded the Beirut-Damascus highway, cutting off the main land route used by people trying to flee, and blocking a convoy of ambulances.
Planes attacked several lorries — apparently part of a new tactic of targeting trucks carrying medicines and other nutrition needs.

Another truck carrying medical supplies from the United Arab Emirates was burned in a raid on one of the last roads still open between Beirut and the Bekaa.
Israeli planes also raided the area near the Qaraoun dam region in the Bekaa Valley where there is an army barracks and the Deir al Ahmar bridge that links north Lebanon to the Bekaa Valley.
Overnight raids targeted the army barracks at Jamhour east of Beirut. Army command said repeated air strikes were launched against the base, one of them during a rescue operation to pull out soldiers trapped under the rubble. The dead included four officers, the military said. Another strike was launched on a barracks in Kfarshima southeast of the capital killing a passerby.
Meanwhile, the grim death toll in Lebanon continued to mount reaching 240 on the seventh day of Israel's relentless offensive which has wounded another 690.
As the European Union and the United States prepared to send envoys to the region, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan outlined plans for an international force for Lebanon that he said should be "considerably larger" than the current 2,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force.
But Israel -- which has always rejected the deployment of foreign forces in its conflict with the Palestinians -- said it was "too early" to discuss such a possibility. (AFP-AP-Naharnet)

URGENT CALL FOR SOLIDARITY
Dear friends, colleagues and true Human Rights Defenders, 
We need concrete actions to be taken all over the world to stop the 
Israeli terrorist bombing on Lebanon. 
forward it, print it, distribute it, but don't stand mute! 

By the numbers: heavy damage to Lebanon's infrastructure 
By the numbers: heavy damage to infrastructure
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
BEIRUT: The relentless bombardment of Lebanon has caused an incredible amount of death and destruction. The first detailed report by the Internal Security Forces' directorate general, released Monday, documented the sheer amount of human and material damage since last Wednesday as a result of Israeli raids over vital public utilities and residential areas. 
Crucial infrastructure was among the first to be targeted, including an initial aerial attack on a power station.
The runways of Rafik Hariri International Airport, the Qoleiaat Airport in North Lebanon and the Riyaq Military Airport in the Bekaa - were all severely damaged, as were the three main sea ports of Beirut, Tripoli and Jamil Gemayel. 
Communication and television broadcast antennas were also among the first to be targeted. Missiles struck antennas belonging to the Hizbullah-owned Al-Manar station in Kfar Selwan and another in the Tripoli port belonging to the maritime operations room, as well as one belonging to the MTC mobile company in Dahr al-Baidar. 
The main focus of the destruction has been on roads and bridges, however, mostly those linking Beirut to South Lebanon. A total of 38 roads have been cut off by bombs or shells, and 42 bridges have been destroyed. These include the new Qassimieh bridge linking Sidon to Tyre, five bridges in Nabatieh, three bridges in Dammour (including the Oceana Bridge), the two bridges of Hadid linking Bqosta in the South to Alman in the Chouf, Hajje in Maamarieh, Namlieh in Dahr al-Baidar, the new bridge on the Mdayrej international road, and a bridge on the road to the airport, to name but a few. 
Severe damage and destruction have also been inflicted on civilian property, with more than 100 homes and residential buildings destroyed in the areas of Tyre, Aita al-Shaab, Rmeish, Houla, Sarifa, Braachit, Shahour, Borayqeh, Shehabieh, Doueir, Aaba, Majadel, Dabaal, Jbeil, Ain Mezreb, Ghandourieh, Haret Hreik, Baalbek, Khiam, Dibbine, Marjayoun, Kfar Shuba, Bint Jbeil, Aitaroun, Tibnin, Maaroub, Kounin, Blida, Kfar Hammam, Meis al-Jabal, Jabal al-Batm, and Abbassieh. 
Several important public buildings have also been destroyed, including the Mayss al-Jabal Hospital and several schools in Kounin. A church in Rmeish and a mosque in Tiri were also severely damaged. An looming fuel shortage was made more imminent by the destruction of fuel containers in Jiyye and 12 service stations in Bir Abed, Khiam, Ain Ibl, Moseileh, Rmeileh, Houla, Hesbe, Tyre, Kfar Kila, and Douris. 
The military has sustained heavy damage as well, with Israel striking Lebanese Army post in Jounieh, Amsheet, Sidon, Batroun and Abdeh, as well as ISF military vehicles in Haret Hreik.
In addition to the material damage, 144 deaths and 382 wounded had been recorded as of 8 a.m. on Monday, and as The Daily Star went to press, Tuesday's death toll stood at 46.
At least 36,800 residents have fled Beirut's southern suburbs for more secure areas, where they are being housed in public schools. About 14,500 are being housed in 65 schools across Beirut alone. Even if the war ended now, most would not have homes or businesses to go back to. - The Daily Star

Israeli kids send gifts of love to Arab kids 
This is unbelievable!! 
Whenever we try to think human and start questioning if it is right to bomb any civilians even the Israelis, they just shock us with the amount of "inhumanity" they can practice and promote!! See below!!!!

Photo caption: Israeli girls write messages on a shell at a heavy artillery position near Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, next to the Lebanese border, Monday, July 17, 2006.(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) 
http://it.news.yahoo.com/17072006/38/immagine/israeli-girls-write-messages-on-shell-at-heavy-artillery-position.html

Dear Lebanese & Palestinian - Kids, 
Die with love. 
Yours,
Israeli Kids 

STOP THE BLEEDING
300 Martyr - More than 1000 Wounded
July 19, 2006: The 8th day of the non-stop blood shedding in Lebanon.
THE TERROR OF TRUCKS !
Dozens of People Killed in their Homes in Israeli Strikes 
Morning Roundup: Dozens of People Killed in their Homes in Israeli Strikes on South and East
Dozens of people have been killed and more are feared dead, trapped under the rubble of flattened houses, after Israel bombed southern and eastern Lebanon from the air and sea early Wednesday. 
Twenty-one civilians were killed and 30 others wounded in Israeli attacks on the village of Srifa near the southern port city of Tyre, where 10 houses were destroyed, police said.
Six people were killed, including a Lebanese woman and her three children, a Sri Lankan and a Sudanese national, in air bombardment on the central town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, police said. 
Six civilians, members of the same family, were killed in an Israeli air strike on a four-story building in the village of Nabi Sheet, a Hizbullah stronghold near the eastern city of Baalbek, police said. 
Five more civilians died in an air raid against a number of trucks in Maarabun, near Baalbek, they said. 
The Israeli raid on Srifa was the fiercest of the overnight attacks and lasted for hours.
"Fighter-bombers and helicopters carried out a series of raids lasting two hours between 1:00 am and 3:00 am on the same sector in the centre of the village, part of which was completely destroyed," one resident told AFP by phone. 
Israeli gunboats also took part in the attack on the village, which is about 30 kilometers northeast of Tyre, he added. 
"At least 10 houses were destroyed. There are tens of people dead, we don't know how many," he said. 
In Salaa, another village near Tyre, 10 members of a family were buried in the rubble when their home was completely destroyed during another Israeli air raid, police said. 
"The raid by an Israeli fighter-bomber completely destroyed the two-story house which collapsed on its occupants, a family of 10, who are almost certainly dead," a Lebanese police officer said. 
In Beirut, explosions reverberated across the city overnight and early Wednesday as air strikes hit the capital's southern suburbs, large parts of which have already been reduced to rubble. 
As the relentless Israeli offensive enters its second week, the death toll continued to rise reaching almost 280 in Lebanon. Most of the dead are civilians caught in the ferocious fighting. 
At daybreak Wednesday, an undisclosed number of Israeli troops were operating just across the border inside Lebanon, looking for tunnels and weapons, the Israeli military said. 
Israeli army officials said that for several days, small numbers of soldiers have been crossing in and out of south Lebanon, close to the border, looking for Hizbullah installations and weapons. They would not give the exact number of troops involved or their location. 

In separate attacks, missiles also hit Choueifat -- a coastal town where several factories are located, just south of the capital, near the airport -- and Hadath, a mainly Christian town just east of Beirut, local television said. 
As areas in south and east Lebanon become increasingly cut off after roads and bridges leading to those regions were bombed, their residents are desperately pleading for a ceasefire through correspondents of local TV networks who are reporting that food, water and medical supplies are running out.
In a new tactic Israel on Tuesday started targeting trucks which it said may be carrying arms destined to Hizbullah. Residents in the Bekaa Valley have asked truck drivers to stop using side roads passing near their homes to avoid being hit by air bombardments. (AFP-AP-Naharnet)

Midday Roundup: 54 Killed in Israeli Bombardment as U.N. Warns of Catastrophe and Foreigners Flee
At least 54 people were killed, many trapped under the rubble of flattened homes, as Israeli jets and gunboats pummeled towns and villages in Lebanon Wednesday and tens of thousands fled a conflict the United Nations warns is causing a humanitarian catastrophe. 
Ground troops headed back across the border to strike Hizbullah outposts as another volley of rockets fell on northern Israel on the eighth day of an offensive that Israel said would have "no time limit" despite a flurry of international diplomatic activity. 
Streams of Lebanese were fleeing their homes to find safe havens and thousands of foreigners, mainly Westerners, were being evacuated by sea to Cyprus. 
Israeli helicopters also fired rockets on two trucks parked in an empty lot in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh residential neighborhood. It was the first direct strike at the heart of the capital, raising fear among its residents that no area in their city remains safe.
Warplanes also raided two bases for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in Sultan Yaacoub near the Syrian border.
More than 300 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel unleashed a massive military assault it says is aimed at destroying Hizbullah after the capture of two soldiers eight days ago. 
The U.N. is drawing up plans for an international force to try to restore calm in Lebanon but U.S. President George Bush -- who says Israel has the right to defend itself -- insisted that Hizbullah and Syria had to be reined in before there could be peace in the region. 
And Israel pressed on with a deadly new wave of attacks against southern and eastern Lebanon on Wednesday that left at least 54 civilians dead, including 21 in a single village where residents said 10 houses were destroyed. 
UNICEF and the World Health Organization said in a statement that the deaths in Lebanon included dozens of children and that aide to affected areas was seriously limited. 
"Unobstructed access for humanitarian assistance is critical to stave off needless death and suffering," it said. 
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the relentless bombardment, saying it was aimed at obtaining the release of the two Israeli soldiers and the disarmament of Hizbullah in line with an existing U.N. resolution. 
"Israel will continue the battle against Hizbullah and will continue to strike targets belonging to the group until it obtains the release of its captured soldiers and restores the security of Israeli citizens." 

Israel has hit all major bridges and main roads in Lebanon and is now targeting trucks which it says could be used by Hizbullah to transport rockets.
On Wednesday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets in the south warning Lebanese against using trucks which it says have become military targets.
With no ceasefire in sight, foreigners continued to flee. In Beirut, hundreds of American, Canadian, British and German citizens were waiting to be evacuated by sea to Cyprus which is being used as the hub of evacuation operations by Western states. 
For many ordinary Lebanese there is little chance of such a rescue and many were fleeing their homes in the main target areas such as southern Lebanon to try to find safe havens. 
"The situation is both alarming and catastrophic. There are about 500,000 people displaced already. The situation is extreme," the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Beirut, Roberto Laurenti, told AFP. (AFP-Naharnet-AP)

Evening Roundup: More Civilians Killed on 8th Day
At least 55 civilians were killed Wednesday as Israeli jets and gunboats pummeled towns and villages across Lebanon and tens of thousands of people fled a conflict that both sides defiantly warned would have no limit.
In the bloodiest day since the fighting erupted eight days ago, two Israeli children and one adult were also killed in a Hizbullah rocket attack on the holy city of Nazareth while two soldiers were killed in clashes with the group's fighters.
Streams of Lebanese were fleeing their homes to find safe havens and thousands of foreigners, mainly Westerners, were being evacuated by sea from Beirut to the neighboring Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora called for an immediate halt to Israel's offensive, requesting urgent international humanitarian aid and vowing to make Israel pay compensation to Lebanon.
But with the international community unable to agree even on ceasefire calls, Israel vowed its "intensive war" against militants would go on as long it deemed necessary.
"The security cabinet met this morning and decided on the continuation of the offensives in Lebanon and Gaza with no time limit," an Israeli official said.
Israel pressed on with a new wave of attacks from air and sea against southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 55 people, flattening houses, destroying roads and hitting trucks, police said.
In the afternoon, warplanes slammed two missiles into the northern runway of Rafik Hariri international airport, without causing casualties.
Twenty-one people were killed in a single village where residents said 10 houses were turned to rubble by shelling from Israeli gunboats and warplanes.
U.N. peacekeepers monitoring the southern border in Lebanon came under Israeli fire too after their headquarters in Naqoura was hit by an artillery shell and one of their positions in Maroun al-Ras was hit by two mortars. A UNIFIL spokesman said nobody was hurt.
Israeli helicopters also fired rockets on two trucks in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh residential neighborhood, the first direct strikes in the center of the capital.
In a solemn speech delivered in English before foreign ambassadors, Saniora called for an "immediate ceasefire and an end" to the near complete blockade imposed by Israel on the country in the last week.
He also called for "urgent international humanitarian" aid.
"Let me assure you that we shall spare no avenue to make Israel" pay compensation for its destructive and deadly attacks on Lebanon because "the country has been torn to shreds."
In Beirut, hundreds of people were waiting to be evacuated by sea while three ships arrived on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which lies just 160 kilometers to the west and is being used as the hub of evacuation operations.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Americans, were evacuated from Beirut on a chartered cruise liner, while Britain is hoping to evacuate about 5,000 of its nationals by the end of the week.
For many ordinary Lebanese there is little chance of such a rescue and many were fleeing their homes in southern Lebanon, which has borne the brunt of the Israeli operation, to try to find safe havens. 
French President Jacques Chirac called for the creation of humanitarian corridors, while Israel's offensive drew stinging criticism from The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 
"The high number of civilian casualties and the extent of damage to essential public infrastructure raise serious questions regarding respect for the principle of proportionality in the conduct of hostilities," ICRC director of operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl said.
Despite the suffering and the rising death toll in Lebanon, the White House said that Israel continues to have broad international support for military operations against Hizbullah. 
"The international community is speaking with one voice on this, except for Iran and Syria and Hizbullah. Hizbullah is what started this crisis," deputy White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. (AFP-Naharnet)

On the 9th Day: 
330 killed in Lebanon, 1,100 wounded, half a million displaced and 
more than 9,000 raid since the beginning of the Israeli onslaught !!

Day 9: The highest single-day toll / 72 people were killed.
Morning Roundup: Israel Intensifies Offensive Despite Saniora's Appeal to Spare the Country Further Devastation
Israeli warplanes Thursday dropped over 20 tons of bombs on a purported Hizbullah leadership bunker in south Beirut as Premier Fouad Saniora made a desperate appeal for international help after the deadliest day of the bombardment. 
Concerns mounted over the humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning of an impending "catastrophe" as Israel's relentless campaign to defeat Hizbullah killed 72 people on Thursday, the bloodiest day since the attacks a week earlier. 
"The country has been torn to shreds. Can the international community stand by while such callous retribution by the state of Israel is inflicted on us?" a bitter and emotional Saniora told foreign ambassadors. 
"You want to support the government of Lebanon? Let me tell you... no government can survive on the ruins of a nation," he said. "I hope you will not let us down. We the Lebanese want life. We have chosen life. We refuse to die." 
Hizbullah said that none of its officials or members had been killed by the massive nighttime Israeli raid on Burj el-Barajneh, which the army said was carried out by 20 planes on the site of a "bunker" it believed was used by the group's leaders. 
"The truth is that the building bombarded by the enemy jets with 23 tons of explosives was only a mosque in the process of being built," Hizbullah said in a statement.
Diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed have yet to get off the ground, with Israel's chief ally the United States refusing to back calls for a ceasefire until Hizbullah halts its rocket attacks into northern Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana were to meet in New York on Thursday with U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who has proposed the creation of an international force to restore calm in Lebanon. 
Solana voiced the hope that the conflict could be over by the end of next week.
"We will work very, very hard to see if we can have an end of hostilities and the beginning of something of a political nature before the end of next week," he told the BBC in an interview.
Israel pressed on with a new wave of attacks from air and sea against southern and eastern Lebanon, flattening houses, destroying roads and hitting trucks, police said.
Warplanes destroyed four bridges linking Lebanon to Syria in Akkar and the Bekaa Valley.
Twenty-five people were killed and 26 wounded in a single village where residents said 10 houses were turned to rubble by shelling from Israeli gunboats and warplanes.
Eleven other civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a four-storey building in the eastern Lebanese village of Nabi Sheet, near the ancient Roman city of Baalbek.
Israel broadcast warnings into south Lebanon telling civilians to leave the region and head to the north of the Litani river.
Expressing alarm about the humanitarian situation in south Lebanon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said perpetrators in the conflict could be held to account for war crimes.
Israel, which has sent ground troops back into Lebanon for the first time since it ended its occupation in May 2000, has been emboldened by strong public support at home and the lack of a ceasefire call from its ally Washington.( AFP-Naharnet) 
Midday Roundup: Israeli Troops Meet Fierce Resistance from Hizbullah in Ground Operations
Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hizbullah fighters Thursday as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons for a second consecutive day and as Israel refused to rule out a full-scale invasion. 
Israeli warplanes also launched new airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs shortly after daybreak Thursday, but no casualties were immediately reported. 
Hizbullah said in a statement that its guerrillas foiled a new Israeli attempt to stage a ground attack and destroyed two Israeli tanks as they tried to enter the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras early Thursday. 
The Israeli army said three Israeli soldiers were wounded in two separate clashes Thursday, but it wasn't immediately clear if either of those were at Maroun al-Ras. 
On Thursday, two Israeli soldiers were killed and nine wounded in clashes with Hizbullah fighters after they crossed the border at the town of Naqoura to look for tunnels and weapons. Hizbullah said one of its members was killed. 
Israel has mainly limited itself to attacks from the air and sea, reluctant to send in ground troops on terrain dominated by Hizbullah. 
But an Israeli army spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a full-scale invasion. Israel also broadcast warnings into south Lebanon on Thursday telling civilians to leave the region, a possible prelude to a larger Israeli ground operation. 
"There is a possibility -- all our options are open. At the moment, it's a very limited, specific incursion but all options remain open," Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli army spokesman, told The Associated Press on Thursday. 
Meanwhile, an Italian paper quoted Prime Minister Fouad Saniora on Thursday. He said that the international community must help press Israel from Shabaa Farms, a small border area that Lebanon claims and Hizbullah points to as proof of the continued need for armed resistance. 
Saniora told the paper that "the continued presence of Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands in the Shabaa Farms region is what contributes to the presence of Hizbullah weapons. The international community must help us in (getting) an Israeli withdrawal from Shabaa Farms so we can solve the problem of Hizbullah's arms," the statement said. 
A day earlier, Saniora issued an urgent appeal for a ceasefire, saying Lebanon "has been torn to shreds." 
The reported overnight attack on Beirut's southern Bourj al-Barajneh neighborhood followed a relatively quiet night in the capital after Thursday's Israeli airstrike on what the Israeli military believed was a bunker used by senior Hizbullah leaders. The group denied any of its leaders were hurt and said what was hit was a mosque under construction. 
Elsewhere in the country, Israeli fighter jets staged dozens of raids on the southern city of Tyre and its surrounding as 500 French citizens were being evacuated from the city that has been among the worst hit by the Israeli offensive. 
Warplanes also bombed the notorious Khiam prison which Israel and its allies in the South Lebanon Army militia used as a detention center where thousands were tortured during the Jewish state's 22-year occupation of the south. The National News Agency said the jail was leveled in the bombardment. 
330 people have been killed in Lebanon, 1,100 wounded and half a million displaced since the beginning of the Israeli onslaught, according to Saniora. 
Israel's army chief said Thursday that his country would not end its offensive until its security is restored, and vowed to destroy Hizbullah's arsenal and military capabilities. 
"The fighting in the north ... could last much longer," Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the army's chief of staff, said in a letter to soldiers and officers. "We are being tested at this time. Our moral strength and value will reflect on the state of Israel and its residents and on their ability to continue to stand up to the threat on the front." 
"We will operate for as long as necessary until security is returned to the state of Israel," he added. 
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour criticized the growing death toll, saying the indiscriminate shelling of cities and of nearby military sites was invariably resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians. 
"International law demands accountability," Arbour said in Geneva. "The scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control." 
France said Thursday it dispatched its first cargo-plane with medical and humanitarian aid destined for Lebanon. 
Thousands of foreigners continued to flee Lebanon by sea to Cyprus and land to Syria. (AP-Naharnet)
Evening Roundup: Fierce Fighting between Israel and Hizbullah as Humanitarian Disaster Looms
Israeli troops battled Hizbullah on Thursday, the ninth day of a conflict that has killed more than 300 people and set alarm bells ringing about the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe.
With no sign the international community is closer to brokering a ceasefire, U.N. chief Kofi Annan condemned Hizbullah for triggering the latest outbreak of violence but also slammed Israel's "excessive use of force" in response.
Four Israeli soldiers were reported killed in the clashes as Israel sent in ground forces across the border in the latest phase of its campaign to crush Hizbullah. 
At least 72 people were killed in Lebanon Thursday, the highest single-day toll since the offensive was launched, sending thousands of Lebanese streaming from their homes to find safe havens.
Thousands of foreigners, mainly Westerners, were also being evacuated by sea from Beirut to the neighboring Mediterranean island of Cyprus, fleeing an offensive that has now killed nearly 330 people in Lebanon and displaced an estimated half a million others. 
A U.S. amphibious warship took aboard more than 1,000 people and departed Beirut without incident in the first major military-run evacuation of U.S. citizens from Lebanon.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz warned that Israel would launch a full-scale ground operation if it considered it necessary.
"Let no terror organization feel we would cower from any operation," he said. "We have no intention of conquering Lebanon, but... we will do it without thinking twice."
Annan pressed for an "immediate" end to the Lebanon fighting and floated a settlement plan that would involve the early release of two captured Israeli soldiers and the deployment of a stabilization force. 
The international community was bracing for a humanitarian disaster in Lebanon, where food and medical supplies are running short because of an Israeli air and sea blockade.
Israel has put the only international airport out of action, bombed houses, roads, bridges, factories, warehouses and even trucks, creating scenes reminiscent of the country's devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
"The most basic human rights of the population are at risk or are being violated, including their rights to life, health and food," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said, warning that perpetrators in the conflict could be held to account for war crimes. 
International diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed have yet to get off the ground, with Israel's chief ally the United States refusing to back calls for a ceasefire until Hizbullah halts its rocket attacks.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to support Israel in its new Middle East battles in a resolution which blamed Syria and Iran for the violence.
The seven-page resolution "supports Israel's right to take appropriate action to defend itself, including to conduct operations both in Israel and in the territory of nations which pose a threat to it."
State department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the Middle East as early as next week to seek an easing of tensions between Israel and Hizbullah.
The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, also said he would leave late Thursday for the Middle East, without providing further details of his trip.
In Beirut, the exodus of foreigners from Lebanon picked up pace, with Western nations increasing the flow of evacuations and other countries such as India and the Philippines starting to bring out their nationals.
U.S. Marines were out in force to secure the Dbayeh port being used to evacuate American citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus, which lies just 160 kilometers to the west and is being used as the evacuation hub. 
The European Commission announced it was doubling its emergency aid to around 12.6 million dollars while UNICEF was giving 7.5 million and the U.N. refugee agency was planning for a multimillion dollar operation.
"The humanitarian situation is catastrophic," said Lebanese Finance Minister Jihad Azour. "Our main objective is now to ensure basic needs for our citizens."(AFP-Naharnet)

Day10:Israel Masses Troops on Lebanon Border after Invasion Warning!
Before this already catastrophic situation gets worse, 
Israel's war machine must be stopped!
Israel is committing a Holocaust in Lebanon… 
Does somebody care?
Enough is Enough! Stop this massacre! SPARE CIVILIANS LIVES! 

Day 10: 362 Martyrs - 1350 Wounded
500,000 displaced in Lebanon - 130,000 fled to Syria - 45,000 in need of assistance

Morning Roundup: Warplanes Continue Pounding Lebanon While Israel Warns of Possible Ground Invasion
Warplanes resumed strikes on targets across Lebanon on Friday as Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people to flee the south preparing for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone in southern Lebanon. 
Israel appeared to have decided that a large-scale incursion across the border was the only way to push Hizbullah back after nine days of the heaviest bombardment of Lebanon in 24 years failed to do so. 
Top Israeli officials met Thursday night to decide how big a force to send in, according to senior military officials. They said Israel won't stop its offensive until Hizbullah is forced behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers north of the border -- creating a new buffer zone in a region that saw 22 years of Israeli presence since 1978. 
Signs of the dramatic escalation came as U.N. chief Kofi Annan warned of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and called for an immediate cease-fire, even as he admitted "serious obstacles" stand in the way of even easing the violence. 
Annan denounced Israel for "excessive use of force" and Hizbullah for holding "an entire nation hostage" with its rocket attacks and snatching of two Israeli soldiers last week. 
The United States -- which has resisted calls for it to press its ally Israel to halt the fighting -- was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region next week. 
Elsewhere, a policeman was wounded when a police station in the border village of Ramieh was shelled by Israeli forces Thursday, the official National News Agency reported. 
Meanwhile, Lebanese continued their exodus from the south, going on for days, streaming north to Beirut and other regions, where they crowded into schools, homes of relatives or hotels. In remote villages of the south, cut off by strikes, residents made their way out over the mountains by foot. 
The U.N. estimated that about a half-million have been displaced in Lebanon, with 130,000 fleeing to Syria and about 45,000 believed to be in need of assistance. 
A World Food Program official in Lebanon Amer Daoudi expressed concern about getting food to the displaced, saying "damage to roads and bridges has almost completely disrupted the food supply chain, hurting large numbers of the displaced." 
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora put the death toll at more than 330. He said more than 55 bridges across the country had been destroyed, and that Israeli forces had also targeted ambulances and medical convoys. "This attack is no longer against Hizbullah, it is an attack against the Lebanese and Lebanon," Saniora told CNN. 
With food and fuel supplies into the country almost impossible to replenish amid an Israeli blockade on ports and strikes on roads to Syria, prices for goods were skyrocketing -- cooking gas nearly doubling to $20, some vegetables nearly quadrupling in price. 
The escape by foreign nationals stepped up dramatically, with ships lining up off Beirut to take thousands of families waiting at the port out of the war zone. 
A large explosion shook Beirut shortly after daybreak Friday. Media said the strike had hit the southern suburbs. Al-Jazeera TV network said one person was killed and another wounded. 
The clashes about 1 1/2 kilometers inside the Lebanese side of the border Thursday evening came when an Israeli patrol sweeping for Hizbullah bunkers was ambushed by guerillas. The fight rapidly expanded, with Israeli helicopters firing missiles at targets on the ground and rescue force storming in. 
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah shrugged off concerns of a stepped up Israeli onslaught, vowing never to release two Israeli soldiers captured by his guerrillas even "if the whole universe comes (against us)." He said they would only be freed as part of a prisoner exchange brokered through indirect negotiations. 
He spoke in an interview with Al-Jazeera taped Thursday to show he had survived a heavy air strike in south Beirut that Israel said targeted a Hizbullah underground leadership bunker. The guerrillas said the strike only hit a mosque under construction and no one was hurt. 
Israel has demanded its two captured soldiers be released and Hizbullah be disarmed before it would halt its offensive. (AP-AFP-Naharnet)
Midday Roundup: U.N. Post Hit as Israel Resumes Airstrikes and Tells Residents of the South to Flee
A U.N.-run observation post near the border was struck during fighting between Israel and Hizbullah on Friday, while Israel resumed air strikes on Lebanon and warned people in the south to flee as it prepared for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone. 
The Israeli military said Hizbullah rockets hit the U.N. post near Zarit, just inside Israel, but a U.N. officer said it was an artillery shell fired by Israeli forces. The facility was severely damaged, but nobody was injured as the Ghanian troops manning the post were inside bomb shelters at the time of the strike, the U.N. official said. 
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that it is set to call up more reserve troops to augment its current forces in northern Israel, widening speculation that a major ground offensive against Lebanon is moving beyond the planning stage. 
The Israeli army said the call-up would likely come later in the day. 
Three people were killed in Baalbeck in eastern Lebanon in relentless Israeli air strikes against the town, a Hizbullah stronghold. A power station was also hit in the bombings. 
Israeli warplanes also pounded the Mdeirej bridge, the main road link to Syria, causing part of the country's longest bridge (the highest in the middle east) to collapse. A pre-dawn airstrike set passenger buses on fire near the town of Zahleh in the Bekaa Valley but no casualties were reported. The buses had just dropped off foreigner passengers in Syria. 
Two Apache attack helicopters collided in an accident northern Israel near the Lebanon border early Friday, killing one air force officer and injuring three others, two seriously, Israeli officials said. Al-Jazeera reported that four soldiers were killed in the crash. 
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, meanwhile, said his country was dispatching urgent aid to Lebanon by air and sea and he called for safe passage. 
His comments came a day after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and called for an immediate cease-fire, even as he admitted "serious obstacles" stand in the way of even easing the violence. 
"We are setting up a humanitarian air and sea port," Douste-Blazy told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Faouzy Salloukh during a visit to Beirut. "At the same time we demand the establishment of humanitarian corridors." 
Douste-Blazy, who said he was here to show support to Lebanon and its government, is scheduled to hold talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Saniora. 
Despite the flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at reducing the bloodshed in Lebanon, Israel appears to have decided that a large-scale incursion into Lebanon was the only way to push Hizbullah back after 10 days of massive bombardment. 
Top Israeli officials met Thursday night to decide how big a force to send in, according to senior military officials. They said Israel won't stop its offensive until Hizbullah is forced behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers north of the border – carving out a new buffer zone. 
Israel has stepped up its small-scale forays over the border in recent days, seeking Hizbullah positions, rocket stores and bunkers. Each time it has faced tough resistance from the guerrillas. 
In the southern port city of Tyre, which has received the brunt of Israel's offensive on the south, hospitals called on residents of nearby town and villages to pick up their dead from their morgues that were filling up. 
The U.N. estimated that about a half-million people have been displaced in Lebanon, with 130,000 fleeing to Syria and about 45,000 believed to be in need of assistance. 
The Council of Maronite Bishops expressed deep concern about the plight of the refugees and called on Lebanese from all sects to rush to their help. The council also urged the U.N. Security Council to implement an immediate cease-fire. 
In preparation for a more powerful punch deeper into Lebanon, an Israeli military radio station that broadcasts into the south issued what it called "a strict warning" that Israeli forces would "act immediately" to halt Hizbullah rocket fire. 
"It will act in word and deed inside the villages of the south against these aggressive terrorist acts. Therefore all residents of south Lebanon south of the Litani must leave their areas immediately for their own safety," the message in Arabic on the Al-Mashriq station said. 
More than 300,000 people are believed to live south of the Litani -- which twice has been the border line for Israeli buffer zones. In 1978, Israel invaded up to the Litani to drive back Palestinian guerrillas, withdrawing from most of the south months later. 
Israel invaded Lebanon again in a much bigger operation in June 1982 when its forces seized parts of Beirut. It eventually carved out a buffer zone that stopped at the Litani. That zone was reduced gradually but the Israeli presence lasted for 18 years until 2000, when it withdrew its troops completely from the country.( AP-Naharnet)

Evening Roundup: Israel Masses Troops on Lebanon Border after Invasion Warning
Israel mobilized thousands more troops on Friday after warning it could launch a ground invasion of Lebanon to defeat Hizbullah, despite calls for a ceasefire and predictions of humanitarian catastrophe. 
Terror-stricken and exhausted residents of Lebanon's battered south waved white scarves as they streamed to safer havens further north, with Israel issuing another warning for them to flee the frontier zone. 
The United States, which has steadfastly rejected a truce and backed Israel's devastating 10-day bombing campaign, was meanwhile expected to announce an international plan aimed at tackling violence in the Middle East. 
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz had warned that Israel would launch a full-scale ground invasion "without thinking twice" if necessary to crush Hizbullah.
Israeli army spokesman Captain Yaacov Dalal said the aim of the call-up of some 3,000 reservists was to "clean up the border zone on the Lebanese side by limited operations aiming to destroy Hizbullah's infrastructure." 
Dalal said the operations on the ground were "indispensable because the air force can not always destroy underground bunkers dug by Hizbullah, which has put in place an entire fortified network."
He added that a major ground attack into Lebanon had not been ruled out.
Israeli combat jets and artillery were back in action in raids that killed four people in the eastern town of Baalbeck -- a Hizbullah stronghold near the site of ancient Roman temple ruins -- and one in the southern port city of Tyre. 
Warplanes also raided the southern villages of Khiam, Qulai'a, Aita al-Shaab and Kfour. 
Around 74 people killed during Israel's 10-day offensive were buried in a mass grave near a military base in the southern port city of Tyre.
The latest bloodshed came despite a call from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire after the worst cross-border fighting in a quarter century.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah issued a defiant new message that Israel's firepower was failing to dent his movement and vowed he would only release two captured Israeli soldiers in a prisoner swap. 
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, on a visit to the region, issued appeals for a ceasefire and help for civilians, warning that the escalating conflict lead to a "catastrophe."
Thousands of Lebanese, in cars, trucks and minibuses, are still fleeing southern Lebanon, where Israel's massive bombardment has left a trail of destruction and raised fears of a shortage of food and medicines. 
"The most basic human rights of the population are at risk or are being violated, including their rights to life, health and food," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was willing to open up a humanitarian corridor to ease the crisis.
Lebanon also called on the U.N. to protect the country's archaeological treasures -- the World Heritage sites of Baalbeck and Tyre -- from Israel's aerial onslaught.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to travel to the region as early as next week to press for a political solution but Washington is refusing to back calls for a ceasefire until Hizbullah halts its rocket attacks. 
She was also due Friday to announce "diplomatic plan that would help address the violence we are seeing and the root causes of that violence," officials in Washington said. (AFP-Naharnet)

Day 11:Israeli Warplanes Knock Out TV & Phone Transmission Towers!
"United States is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel after receiving a request last week" - The New York Times 
UN says Lebanon in 'major' humanitarian crisis

Morning Roundup: Israeli Forces Line Up at Border as 'Limited' Ground Invasion Becomes Imminent

With small units already operating in south Lebanon, Israeli tanks and troops massed on the border Saturday after calling up reserves, as the army announced plans for a "limited" ground operation to destroy Hizbullah's tunnels, hideouts and weapon stashes in the south. 
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced plans to visit the Middle East on Sunday, her first trip to the region since the crisis erupted 11 days ago -- even as she ruled out a quick cease-fire as a " false promise." 
An official from the U.N. monitoring force in south Lebanon said that between 300 and 500 troops are believed to be in the western sector of the border, backed by as many as 30 tanks -- a likely precursor to a larger ground force that Israel could use to sweep Hizbullah out of the area. 
Israel's goal is not to create a buffer zone as it did during its occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, said a senior Israeli military official. 
Rather, Israel wants to weaken Hizbullah to make it easier for the Lebanese army to move into areas previously controlled by the guerrillas, possibly with the aid of a beefed up international peacekeeping force, the official said. 
Defense Minister Elias Murr said the Lebanese army was ready to go into battle if Israel invaded, an action that would sharply raise the stakes in the conflict that has already devastated the country and its population. 
"The Lebanese army will resist and defend the country and prove that it is an army worthy of respect," said Murr, whose forces have so far stood on the sidelines of the fighting. 
Meanwhile, the United States was rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel after receiving a request last week, The New York Times reported. The munitions were part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel could tap at any time, the Times reported in an article posted on its Web site Friday night. 

Rice was traveling to the region for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Palestinian president before heading to Rome for an international conference on Lebanon. 
Once more rejecting EU and Arab calls for an immediate ceasefire, Rice said: "I think we are beginning to see outlines of a political framework that might allow the cessation of violence in a more sustainable way. 
In south Lebanon, soldiers buried 72 people killed in recent bombings in a mass grave just outside a barracks in the southern city of Tyre. Volunteers put the bodies, many of them children, in wooden coffins and spray-painted the names of the dead on the lids. 
France, the United Nations and Red Cross painted a dire portrait of life for civilians trapped in the south or forced to flee their homes there. They demanded Israel open humanitarian corridors to allow life's necessities -- shelter, food, water and medicine -- to reach the swelling numbers of displaced people -- an estimated half-million. 
Responding to a U.S. request, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said French aid would be allowed into Lebanon's port of Sidon. 
The Lebanese health ministry reported 362 deaths in Lebanon so far in the onslaught. The count includes six Hizbullah fighters that the group has confirmed were killed. Israel's army chief of staff said Friday that nearly 100 Hizbullah guerrillas have been killed in the offensive in Lebanon. 
The Lebanese toll Friday was expected to rise with heavy Israeli strikes in the Shiite regions of the south and east. In the southern towns of Nabatiyeh and Aytaroun, buildings were leveled -- including one on a commercial street -- killing at least one person -- but rescue crews were too afraid of the continuing waves of strikes to search for more dead or wounded trapped in the rubble. 
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said the conflict had made at least 700,000 refugees so far, most of them remaining in Lebanon, where the destruction of bridges and roads has made access and treatment difficult. "I'm afraid of a major humanitarian disaster," he told CNN. 
Israel's army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, said the military would conduct "limited ground operations as much as needed in order to harm the terror that harms us" -- leaving it unclear how deep and how powerful the Israeli punch into Lebanon would be. Israel on Friday called up several thousand reservists to free up regular troops for duty in the north.( AP-Naharnet-AFP)

Midday Roundup: Israeli-Hizbullah Fighting in South, Warplanes Knock Out TV and Phone Transmission Towers

As hundreds of Israeli troops moved in and out of south Lebanon Saturday engaging in clashes with Hizbullah, warplanes hit TV and mobile phone transmission towers knocking the leading LBCI station off the air and cutting communication with some regions. 
Fighter bombers fired missiles at transmission stations in the central and northern Lebanese mountains, leaving antennas burning on the ground. 
Three missiles hit an LBCI transmission station at Fatqa in Kesrouan, killing the chief employee there. 
Another air strike crippled a transmission tower at Terbol in northern Lebanon, where relay stations for LBCI, Future TV and Hizbullah's Al-Manar are located. 
The three stations could no longer be seen in parts of the country although their satellite feed was unaffected. 
The transmission of Radio Free Lebanon, a private station, was also disrupted when airstrikes hit a tower on a mountaintop in Sannine that was also used by the LBCI. 
Meanwhile, Israeli forces kept up the pressure on southern Lebanese border towns, pounding them with artillery fire, air raids and making brief forays. The towns of Khiam and Bidias took the brunt of the bombardment. 
Israel's incursion into Maroun al-Ras came after it pummeled the area with bombs and artillery throughout the night. 
Several Israeli soldiers, backed by artillery and tank fire, moved into the village taking control of it, Israeli military officials said. 
But Lebanese security sources said that the Israeli military had made incursions of only a few hundred meters into Maroun al-Ras and the nearby Yaroun village. 
The village is believed to be a launching point for rocket attacks on northern Israel, including those on the Israeli city Nazareth. 
U.N. peacekeepers and witnesses said the Israeli incursion briefly held the border village of Marwaheen before pulling back. 
The raid was part of Israel's wider strategy of running a "limited" ground operation aimed at destroying Hizbullah's tunnels, hideouts and weapons stashes in south Lebanon. 
Elsewhere in south Lebanon, a man and his wife were killed in their car near Tyre and four others were wounded as they fled the fighting. Two other women were killed in the village of Kafra. In the province of Hasbaya to the east, a man was killed and two of his children were wounded in Israeli shelling of the Druze village of Fardis. 
Nine people were pulled out alive after they were trapped for three days under the rubble of a building demolished in an Israeli air raid on a village northeast of Tyre, the National News Agency reported. 
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who has drawn Arab criticism for failing to back U.N. calls for a ceasefire, warned Israel of the dangers of a full-scale invasion. 
She told the Financial Times the "very dangerous situation" could be at a turning point where "a miscalculation, a mistake could have dramatic effects and that I find deeply alarming." 
In Cairo, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy warned that the escalating conflict could destroy Lebanon. 
"We must note the severity of the situation... and call for humanitarian corridors, call for the immediate cessation of hostilities, find all the conditions for a ceasefire, if not, it will be the destruction of the Lebanese state," he told a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit. 
Almost 370 people have been killed in Lebanon since the beginning of the Israeli offensive 11 days ago and at least 700,000 people have been displaced, most of them remaining in the country.
Tens of thousands of foreigners and Lebanese holding foreign passports have been evacuated to Cyprus by sea or to Syria by land. (AP-AFP-Naharnet).

Evening Roundup: Israel Battles Hizbullah Fighters in Southern Lebanese Village

Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops moved in and out of Lebanon on Saturday, taking over a village and battling Hizbullah fighters by land, sea and air as part of a limited ground campaign. 
The soldiers — backed by artillery and tank fire — moved into the large Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras in several waves and took control, Israeli military officials said.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese fleeing north packed into the port of Sidon to escape the increased Israeli offensive.
As part of an effort to avert a possible humanitarian crisis, Israel eased its blockade of Lebanon's ports to allow the first shiploads of aid to arrive. It remained unclear how that aid would get to the isolated towns and villages in the south, where the fighting has been centered over the past 11 days. 
Israel increased its limited ground offensive in the area Saturday as Hizbullah fighters continued firing rockets into northern Israel.
A group of Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a border fence and entered the area Saturday afternoon.
The equipment and about 25 soldiers raced past a U.N. outpost and headed into the village that other Israeli soldiers already had seized. Gunfire could be heard coming from the village, and artillery based inside Israel also was firing into the area. 
In all, a total of about 2,000 Israeli troops entered the area Saturday, but some returned to Israel during the day. 
Lebanese security sources said the Israeli military had made incursions of only a few hundred meters into the Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun villages.
In Maroun al-Ras, about 32 residents took refuge at the U.N. observers post. But almost the entire remaining population of the village — about 2,300 before the crisis broke out — were believed to have fled, Lebanese security officials said. 
At one point, a half-ton bomb was dropped on a Hizbullah outpost, about 450 meters from the border and near the village. Other positions were bombarded by Israeli gunboats operating off the coast.
An Israeli military radio network that broadcasts in the south, Al-Mashriq, warned residents of 13 villages to flee by 4 p.m. The villages form a corridor nearly 6.5 kilometers wide extending north from the border to a point about 16 kilometers from the border, or 8 kilometers south of the Litani River. 
Britain's junior foreign minister openly criticized the Israeli military offensive as "difficult to understand."
Kim Howells' comments marked London's most unequivocal criticism yet of Israel's military offensive and were in stark contrast to the line taken by Washington and his own prime minister.
"These are not surgical strikes. It's very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics that are being used," Howells told journalists during a visit to Beirut.
"If they are chasing Hizbullah, then go for Hizbullah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation."
"I very much hope that the Americans understand what's happening to Lebanon -- the destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people," he said.
Al Jazeera TV network said two people were killed and eight wounded in a raid on the southern town of Zrariyeh. Israeli jets also targeted in Hasbaya a convoy of TV stations, including Hizbullah's al-Manar, but no casualties were reported. 
The Lebanese health ministry has reported 362 deaths in Lebanon in the onslaught. Thirty-four Israelis have been killed, including 18 soldiers and an air force officer killed Friday when two helicopters collided. 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East on Sunday, her first trip to the region since the crisis erupted, but she ruled out a quick cease-fire as a "false promise." 
After Maroun al-Ras was taken, small groups of Israeli soldiers in armored personal carriers traveled to and from the village. 
In Marwahin, also along the border, Israeli troops recovered anti-tank missiles, a launcher and other weapons used by Hizbullah. The Israeli army said that more than 150 Hizbullah targets in Lebanon had been attacked. 
Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes blasted communications and television transmission towers in Fatqa, Terbol and Sannine. An LBCI employee was killed in the raid on the station's antenna in Fatqa. Fighter jets also raided an old transmission in the Aito-Ehden Mountains and another in Fih-Koura in northern Lebanon. 
In Beirut, ships continued to arrive at the main port, part of a massive evacuation effort to pull out Americans and other foreigners. (AP-AFP-Naharnet)

John Bolton-a criminal from the USA!!! 
Please circulate the following link. 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717/pl_afp/mideastconflictlebanon_060717204728 

Let the whole world knows the opinion of the representative of the "greatest democratic, free, human rights defenders claimers, country" in the universe. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the US ambassador to the UN John Bolton saying that there is a moral difference
between Israeli civilians who die from Hezbollah terrorist actions and the Lebanese civilians who die during Israeli acts of "self-defense". 

He is claiming that Israeli casualties have a higher moral ground.
Such speech is abominable, dangerous, and against all human right treaties!
WORLD, SHAME ON YOU & YOUR SILENCE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


Help Lebanon.
Send a letter to your government representative


End the Israel's crimes against humanity!!!!!!
Virtually every government in the world is calling for an immediate ceasefire,,but is the world really seeking for that!?!?
Let the conscience of the people speaks to STOP THIS INSANE WAR and end the Israel's crimes against humanity.

The official lines of the US and Israeli governments are that the destruction in Lebanon and Gaza are due to two Israeli soldiers being taken prisoner. This incredible display of willful amnesia omits the fact that at least 9,300 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, 1,000 of which have had no charges brought against them. It also conveniently omits the fact that over 14,000 Iraqis are languishing in US prisons inside Iraq, most of whom have been charged with approximately nothing.
While the slaughter of innocents continues unabated, we must be very clear as to who is responsible for creating the conditions for it. "Israel has been the largest recipient of US foreign aid every year since 1976," Frida Berrigan, a senior research associate at the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute in New York told Inter Press Service recently.
On top of providing Israel with billions of dollars of sophisticated weaponry, in 2005 alone the US provided the Israeli government $2.2 billion. This amount is expected to increase incrementally in the coming years. 
Israel has the largest fleet of F-16 fighter jets in the world, outside of the US. Thanks to the US, these deadly warplanes are responsible for most of the death and destruction we've seen thus far in Lebanese cities, suburbs, and ports. 
Most of the critical infrastructure of Lebanon has been reduced to smoldering ruins, as countless Lebanese are now living by generators and scavenging for food wherever possible. Bombings have included electrical stations, fuel storage depots, gas stations, hospitals, ambulance convoys, ports, factories, bridges and roads. As of this writing, the death toll in Lebanon is now over 350, all but 14 of which were civilians. There are over 1,000 wounded.
It's called collective punishment. It is a war crime. It is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. 
An entire country is being collectively punished while the world sits by and watches.
(http://www.stopthewar.co.uk/)