BEIRUT, 25 July 2006 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held crisis talks in the Middle East yesterday at the start of a high-stakes mission to try to end the conflict in Lebanon, where deadly violence raged for the 13th straight day.
At least seven civilians were killed, including children, when Israeli fighter jets pounded southern Lebanon, turning homes to rubble, while troops were locked in pitched battles with Hezbollah fighters near the border.
Two soldiers were reported killed in the fighting with the militiamen as troops in tanks and bulldozers pushed even deeper into Lebanon although the Israeli government says it has no plans for an all-out invasion — for the moment.
Rice, whose administration has been steadfast in its support for Israel’s fearsome war on Hezbollah in the face of international calls for a truce, said on her way to the Middle East that she wanted an “urgent cease-fire” but insisted it should be sustainable. She arrived in Israel late yesterday as Washington insisted it was spearheading international efforts to bring an end to the deadly conflict.
“We the United States are firmly in the picture in leading the diplomacy,” Assistant Secretary of State David Welch told reporters traveling with Rice, she was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before going on to the West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. While in Beirut, she said she was “deeply concerned” about the Lebanese people, as the grim death toll from Israel’s nearly two-week old offensive reached 373 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians.
Rice held talks with a number of Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, during a visit a US official said was a “strong show of support” for the government.
Her visit came as Washington appeared increasingly estranged from nearly all its European and Arab allies over Israel’s massive onslaught that has set off fears of a humanitarian disaster as thousands of foreigners and Lebanese flee the country.
US announced a $30 million immediate aid package for Lebanon and said its forces would begin airlifting supplies today.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington’s closest ally, called the conflict a “catastrophe” that was damaging the fledgling democracy in Lebanon, a country that had gradually been rebuilding since the 1975-90 civil war and the end of Syria’s long military and political dominance.
Clashes erupted again as Israeli forces moved toward Bint Jbail, the largest town in the border zone and a Hezbollah stronghold, after taking control of the nearby strategic village of Marun Al-Ras. Al-Jazeera television reported that two soldiers were killed but this was not confirmed by Israel, which on Sunday had captured two Hezbollah fighters.
The army said a barrage of about 20 rockets landed in towns across northern Israel, slightly wounding one person in the beach resort of Nahariya. A combat helicopter also crashed in northern Israel, killing two soldiers, the army said. Hezbollah claimed it had shot it down but Israel said it was an accident. The latest deaths bring to 39 the number of Israelis killed.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah remained defiant, vowing that deeper incursions would not stop the rocket fire, and ruling out any efforts for a negotiated settlement unless it involved a prisoner swap.
“We are truly in a state of war and Hezbollah’s priority is to stop the savage Zionist aggression on Lebanon,” he told As-Safir newspaper. “We do not feel that we are currently interested in discussing ideas or initiatives.”
International criticism has mounted of the offensive, which has left Lebanon virtually cut off from the world, made hundreds of thousands of people refugees in their own country and destroyed billions of dollars of infrastructure. UN chief Kofi Annan said he would press for a truce and establishment of a buffer force at an upcoming international crisis meeting in Rome on Israel’s offensive.
UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland, issuing an urgent appeal for $150 million for 800,000 people made homeless by Israel’s onslaught, criticized both Israel and Hezbollah for attacking civilians.
“My position is very clear — the hostilities must stop immediately. Civilian populations are not targets. That is against the law, humanitarian law,” he said on a visit to a refugee center in the mountains east of Beirut.
