LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JULY  17/2006

Latest News From Daily Star 17/07/06
Statement by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
Doctors warn of hidden injuries
Leaders voice solidarity in face of blitz
Israelis intensify bombardment of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure
Arab leaders divided over Hizbullah's share of blame
Damascus warns any Israeli attack will meet 'direct and firm response'
UN, EU call for cease-fire, release of captive soldiers
Hizbullah leader promises enemy 'more surprises'
Death toll hits 141 as Jewish state targets residential areas
War erases entertainment slate
Single strike on Civil Defense post kills 20 civilians
Lebanon's children scarred for life by war they don't understand
Lebanon opens account to receive aid apyments
Terrified foreigners search for quickest way out of Beirut
Latest News From miscellaneous sources 17/07/06
IAF jets target 10 rocket launch pads in southern Lebanon-Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel
Israeli general warns residents of south Lebanon to evacuate ahead-Insider
Toll rises to 16 in south Lebanon-The Australian - Sydney,Australia
SYRIA: Damascus blasts Israeli aggression against Lebanon-Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
US evacuates medical cases from Lebanon-Reuters - USA
More die in fresh Lebanon strikes-BBC News - UK
Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Possible in Next 24 Hours-Zaman Online
Egypt's Mubarak calls for Israel-Lebanon truce-Reuters-USA
Lebanon bows on border demandThe -Australian
US OKs departure of some embassy staff in Lebanon-Washington Post
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait pledge $70 mln to help Lebanon-Reuters
Brazil prepares to extract citizens from Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
Syria vows harsh response if Israel attacks-Ynetnews
Latest News From miscellaneous sources 16/07/06
Israel orders residents of south Lebanon to leave their homes-Al-Bawaba - Amman,Jordan
Israel escalates bombardment of Beirut-Houston Chronicle - United States
Missiles hit Haifa, Israel warns south Lebanon residents-Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
Israel may strike specific targets in Syria: official-People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
Syria vows to respond directly to any Israel strike-Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai,India
Syria voices full support for resistance against Israel-People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
Tehran and Damascus heap threats on Israel against attacking Syria-DEBKA file - Jerusalem,Israel
Militants Are Said to Amass Missiles in South Lebanon-New York Times - United States
Bush Calls On Syria to Rein In Militants-Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Bush, Chirac differ over call for Lebanon truce-Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
Iran and Syria to blame, says Blair-Guardian Unlimited - UK
Rice tells Israel US concerned about casualties-Washington Post - United States
Israel to Lebanon: No to ceasefire-Ynetnews - Israel
Iran Warns Israel of 'Unimaginable Losses' if Syria Attacked-Naharnet - Beirut,Lebanon
First Kuwait relief aid shipment to Lebanon now in Syria: envoy -Arab Times - Kuwait
Syria, Iran [Michael Ledeen]-National Review Online Blogs - New York,NY,USA
Dream Is Over in Lebanon-Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Iran and Syria's Role in Mideast Crisis-FOX News - USA
LEBANON: Exodus hits economy-Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
US diplomatic options limited in Israel-Lebanon conflict-CNN - USA
Israel tightens noose around Lebanon-AP
Lebanon: U.S. blocking call for cease-fire-AP
Hezbollah ready for total war as Israel lays siege to Beirut-The Sunday Times - UK
Inside the Mind of Hezbollah-Washington Post - United States
Hezbollah, Hamas United by Tactics- Washington Post - United States
Hezbollah rockets attack deeper into Israel-Euronews.net - Lyon,France
The Interests Behind Hezbollah-Deutsche Welle - Germany
Israel: Iran aided Hezbollah ship attack-Houston Chronicle - United States
Arab League split on support for Hezbollah-Houston Chronicle - United States
All Talk and No Strategy: The limits of diplomacy-Middle East Forum - Philadelphia,PA,USA
Israel steps up assault on Beirut suburbsAP
US mulls clearing citizens from Lebanon-Jerusalem Post - Israel
Damascus offers help, solidarity-NEWS.com.au - Australia
Lebanon: US blocking call for cease-fire-Houston Chronicle - United States
Kuwait sends aid shipment to Lebanon-People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
Analysis: Lebanon's government finds itself between a rock and a ...Jerusalem Post - Israel
Warships ready to evacuate Britons from Lebanon-Independent - London,England,UK
Middle East peace is 'dead'-News24 - South Africa

G-8 leaders demand halt to Mideast attacks By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - World leaders, managing to resolve sharp differences over an escalating crisis between Israel and Lebanon, declared Sunday that extremist groups in the region cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and must immediately halt their attacks.
The leaders of the world's eight industrial powers issued a strong statement condemning Hezbollah militants but also urged Israel to exercise restraint in its military actions against Lebanon.
The statement said it was critical for Israel to "be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of its actions." It called on Israel "to exercise utmost restraint" by seeking to avoid casualties among innocent civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure.
"It is a strong message with a clear political content," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.
The statement called for two captured Israeli soldiers to be freed, for the attacks on Israel by Hezbollah militants to stop and for Israel to end its military action. It also expressed support for the Lebanese government.
The crisis has dominated talks among President Bush and the other leaders attending the annual G-8 summit of major industrial countries. The Group of Eight is made up of the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada. Israeli warplanes began striking Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the border on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. The guerrillas struck back at Israeli cities, and on Sunday fired a relentless barrage of rockets into the Israeli city of Haifa, dramatically escalating the conflict. Bush and European leaders disagreed on who should be blamed for the violence, and those differences had to be overcome for the G-8 nations to issue a joint declaration.
While other G-8 leaders questioned whether Israel's response to the capture of its soldiers went too far, Bush has placed blame squarely on Hezbollah and its state sponsors — Iran and Syria — and has declined to press Israel for a cease-fire. Bush described the escalation of violence as "a moment of clarification" that should show the world how Hezbollah is disrupting the peace process. In their statement, the leaders expressed "deepening concern about the situation in the Middle East, in particular the rising civilian casualties on all sides and the damage to infrastructure." At least 130 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, while about a dozen Israeli civilians have lost their lives.
Merkel, speaking to reporters, said: "We do not want to let terrorist forces and those who support them have the opportunity to create chaos in the Middle East. Therefore we place value on clearly identifying the cause and effect of events." She said the leaders believe that "first of all, that the Israeli soldiers must be returned unharmed, that the attacks on Israel must stop and that then, of course, also the Israeli military action must be ended."
Merkel also said they are "convinced that the government of Lebanon must be given all support and that the relevant U.N. resolutions regarding the south of Lebanon must also be implemented, and we also demand that in addition to the U.N. activities, another observation and security mission is established. That must be worked out through the U.N."
The U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1559 in September 2004, calling for the disarmament of all militias and strict respect for Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence. Hezbollah, which operates in southern Lebanon, has refused to disarm, saying it is a resistance movement. Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be more in line with European leaders who have condemned Israel's attacks as excessive. Putin has said it was unacceptable for Hezbollah to take hostages and shell others' territory, but also for Israel to use massive force in response.
"It is our impression that aside from seeking to return the abducted soldiers, Israel is pursuing wider goals," Putin said. He did not elaborate.
Putin had molded this year's G-8 summit — the first hosted by his country — to showcase Russia's re-emergence on the world stage after a devastating economic collapse in 1998. However, he failed to win a much-anticipated agreement with the U.S. on Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization, the 149-nation group that sets the rules for world trade. The United States is the only country that has not signed off on Russia's membership in the WTO, and Bush dashed Putin's hopes for getting in now.

Lebanon: Israeli strike on city kills 9
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese security officials said Sunday an Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre has killed nine civilians and wounded 42.
Earlier Sunday, Lebanese guerillas fired a relentless barrage of rockets into the northern Israeli city of Haifa, killing eight people at a train station and wounding seven in a dramatic escalation of a five-day-old conflict that has shattered hopes for Mideast peace.
Hezbollah's firing of at least 20 rockets at Haifa and 30 elsewhere came after Israel unleashed its fiercest bombardment yet of the Lebanese capital, starting after midnight Saturday. The attack reduced Beirut apartment buildings to rubble and knocked out electricity in many areas of the city.
But Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said his guerrillas have "complete strength and power" despite the five-day bombardment. He urged Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support his guerrillas, saying his group is fighting Israel on their behalf.
Within two hours of the 8 a.m. Haifa assault, Israel warplanes retaliated with at least six airstrikes on southern Beirut, blasting the Hezbollah headquarters building and sending a thick smoke cloud over the city. U.S. officials were monitoring violence in Lebanon hour-by-hour to decide whether to evacuate an estimated 25,000 Americans, possibly to the neighboring Mediterranean island of Cyprus. About 350 people — most of them Europeans — were evacuated Saturday night and early Sunday from Lebanon to Cyprus aboard Italian military flights. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there would be "far-reaching consequences" for the Haifa attack. Black smoke rose over the city. Air-raid sirens wailed as the dead and wounded were evacuated. Rockets also hit near an oil refinery, gas storage tanks and a busy street during morning rush hour. Israeli authorities put residents across the north and in the central city of Tel Aviv on heightened alert, reflecting the longer range of the missile attacks. They blamed Syria and Iran for providing guerrillas with more sophisticated weaponry, raising the specter of a wider regional confrontation.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI expressed grave concern over the escalation of fighting in Lebanon and denounced terrorism and retaliation in the Holy Land. Sunday brought the fiercest attacks since the conflict erupted Wednesday after Hezbollah guerillas penetrated Israel in brazen raid, killing eight soldiers and capturing two. The fighting opened a second front for Israel, which was already battling Hamas-linked Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip following the capture of an Israeli soldier June 25. Israel has since expanded its mission from the immediate need to free the three soldiers to a campaign to halt rocket fire from Gaza and to neutralize Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli troops, tanks and helicopter gunships re-entered northern Gaza on Sunday, firing missiles and exchanging gunfire with armed Palestinians. The raid killed five Palestinians, including three militants. Masked militants in Gaza vowed Sunday to launch more rockets at Israel "to show solidarity with the twin of our resistance," referring to Hezbollah. The Haifa attack raised Israel's death toll in the fighting to at least 24, half of them civilians. At least 130 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, most of them also civilians. Iran and Syria are prime supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah, and Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal warned that any aggression against it "will be met with a firm and direct response whose timing and methods are unlimited."
Iran on Sunday again denied Israeli claims that it had troops in Lebanon and that it helped Hezbollah attack an Israeli warship Friday, saying the guerrilla group could fend for itself. Initially, it was believed that an unmanned drone laden with explosives had hit the Israeli warship; it later became clear that Hezbollah used what Israel described as an Iranian-made, radar-guided C-802 missile.
The army said Sunday that three sailors missing after the gunship attack were dead, raising the number of Israeli sailors killed in the attack to four. The Islamic Republic also warned that expanding Israel's bombing raids to neighboring Syria would bring the Jewish state "unimaginable damages."
"Iran stands by the people of Syria," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. Hezbollah said it hit Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, with dozens of Raad-2 and Raad-3 missiles. But Israeli officials said Hezbollah — previously using relatively small Katyusha rockets — also launched at least four Iranian-made Fajr missiles, its first use of the weapons. The missiles have a range of 28 miles and a far larger warhead than Katyushas.
Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli Cabinet minister and former army chief of staff, blamed Syria. "The ammunition that Hezbollah used this morning ... is Syrian ammunition," he said. He compared Hezbollah to al-Qaida, saying Israel should mount its operation accordingly. One of the rockets hit the section of the Haifa station where crews perform maintenance on the trains, tearing a huge hole in the roof. About 30 people were working at the time, Ofer Litzevski, a train company official, said. At the scene a body lay on a stretcher in a white bag.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav warned people against holding large gatherings and canceled all cultural events. Trains and buses were halted across northern Israel.
Hezbollah said it intentionally avoided hitting petrochemical installations in Haifa, according to a statement read on Al-Manar television, the Islamic guerrillas' main voice to the world.
"But the next time, it (Hezbollah) will not spare anything in Haifa and its surroundings," the statement said.
Israel had deployed a Patriot missile battery in Haifa on Saturday to protect against surface-to-surface missiles. But the Patriot was not built to combat the kind of missiles that hit on Sunday, said Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, a member of the army's General Staff.
Rockets fired by Lebanese militants also struck Acco, Nahariya and several other northern towns, and residents of the region were told to head to bomb shelters. Israeli rescue teams said 20 people were wounded in Haifa and Acco, four of them seriously. Israel's overnight attacks on Lebanon briefly knocked Al-Manar TV off the air. The Jiyeh power plant was in flames after being hit at about 6 a.m., cutting electricity to many areas in Beirut and south Lebanon.
Large sections of the capital were covered in fine white dust from the barrage. Fires raged, and heaps of rubble and twisted metal covered entire city blocks near the Hezbollah compound in Beirut's southern district, known as Dahiyah. The steel gates of the compound were mangled.
One building was collapsed on its side; other apartment buildings were reduced to rubble or had their upper floors collapsed into those below. Broken furniture, blankets, mattresses, clothes and stuffed toys were scattered on the streets.
The Dahiyah district was empty except for guerrillas and a few residents who returned to collect belongings before taking refuge elsewhere.
"We want to sleep on our own pillows in the shelter," Mariam Shihabiyah, a 39-year-old mother of five said as she emerged from scrounging supplies from her wrecked apartment. "I just want them and our clothes, that's all ... Can you believe what happened to Dahiyah?"
A copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, lay in the street, its dusty pages fluttering. A Hezbollah gunman picked it up reverently lifted and kissed it.
In a statement, the Lebanese Cabinet said that Italy had relayed Israeli conditions to stop the offensive: Hezbollah guerrillas should release the two Israeli soldiers and withdraw to beyond a river 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border, pushing back the threat of rocket fire on northern Israel.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev had no comment on the Lebanese statement.

Bush, Putin Strain to Affirm Common Goals
The leaders announce joint plans to try to counter the spread of nuclear weapons, but democracy, trade and Iraq are sore points.
By James Gerstenzang and David Holley, Times Staff Writers
July 16, 2006
STRELNA, Russia — President Bush and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin committed their nations Saturday to cooperation in fighting potential nuclear terrorism, as they struggled to demonstrate that they could move beyond thorny differences over the state of democracy in Russia.
They affirmed their shared goal of working closely to counter nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea and agreed to boost nuclear energy cooperation, but they failed to overcome trade differences — or the chilly tenor of their meeting.
"We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly," he said.
Bush gave a forced, I-wish-you-hadn't-said-that smile. "Just wait," he replied. He spoke so quietly that his comment could barely be heard in the front row and it was not clear whether Putin heard him. The leaders met on the eve of a summit of the Group of 8 industrialized nations, with Russia the host for the first time. The conference has taken on all the trappings of an international debut for post-communist Russia, even as it has spotlighted questions about whether the country is truly democratic.
Bush and Putin said they had directed their governments to launch negotiations on an agreement that would open the door to nuclear energy cooperation, which could include trade in power plant equipment and joint efforts to develop more advanced reactors.
It was the most tangible and significant demonstration that the two countries can still move forward at a point that otherwise appears to be the most contentious since Bush took office in 2001.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Russian Economy Minister German O. Gref said they aimed to reach a final trade deal by October.
They said their talks had made breakthroughs on financial services and intellectual property rights but had failed to reach agreement on agricultural issues.
Gref said the main stumbling block was the issue of safety inspections of U.S. exports of frozen beef and pork. Agreement on the United States' issues with Russia is a key obstacle to Moscow's entrance to the World Trade Organization, a move the U.S. favors. Schwab said an accord was 90% complete.
Putin said the two leaders agreed to hold an international meeting next spring on the joint efforts by governments, private organizations and business to fight terrorism.
The two presidents issued a joint statement announcing a "Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism," which they said would build on previous efforts to boost the security of nuclear facilities and coordinate efforts against terrorists seeking to acquire nuclear materials.
And they agreed to set up a joint foundation intended to encourage development of a private sector by providing grants that would be used to train businesspeople, government officials and participants in nongovernmental organizations promoting democracy.
The summit and surrounding meetings are taking place in the Konstantinovsky Palace and adjacent buildings in this suburb of St. Petersburg on the breezy shores of the Gulf of Finland. When Peter the Great began work in 1720 on the palace, just outside what was then the Russian capital, it was intended to serve as his Versailles. The 1,000-room structure was heavily damaged during World War II in the siege of Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was known during the communist era, but has been rebuilt to its imperial splendor.
Invariably, the U.S.-Russian relationship is colored not so much by the personal relationship that Bush suggests they have achieved as by what each leader sees as his nation's interests. Putin said he and Bush, whom he described as "my guest, my friend, the president of the United States, George W. Bush," were often asked whether their relationship helped solve international problems.
"I know that he believes so," Putin said of Bush. "I have to tell you that at the same time, it does not hamper us in standing up for our national interests." The trade talks, he said, "are very concrete, calculable in their nature, which can be expressed in terms of millions of dollars or rubles."
More than once Putin indicated that he had policy differences with the United States.
In response to a question about joint efforts to control the proliferation of unconventional weapons and missiles that could deliver them, Putin noted common goals with the United States.But he said somewhat cryptically, "We will not participate in any crusades, in any holy alliances." That suggested an effort to distance himself from Bush's fervor on these or other issues.
Bush offered several examples of cooperation and said the nations' relations "are very good." He said that Iran was testing the resolve of the United States, Russia and others to determine whether they would stand firm to prevent the development of an Iranian nuclear weapon. "We've agreed to work together to achieve a common goal. That's considerable progress," Bush said. And he offered an almost-apologetic explanation of Putin's often testy response to questions about democracy here. "Look, he's willing to listen, but he also explains to me, he doesn't want anybody telling him how to run his government," Bush said. At a news conference early today, Putin returned to the democracy theme while reiterating that he would step down in 2008, after his second term, as required by the constitution.
"I am fully convinced that all of the work I am doing now and will be doing through to the end of my term in office is aimed at making this process of democratization and setting up a market economy irreversible in Russia," Putin said. "I am sure the Russian people will show themselves to be reliable partners, reliable allies, and will not disappoint the other members of the G-8." The state of Russian democracy was a nagging issue in the run-up to the summit, as Putin has steadily consolidated central authority. Critics say that with all three national television networks in effect under state control, the elimination of direct election of governors and growing pressure on nongovernmental organizations, Russia should no longer be considered a democracy.
The meetings that evolved into G-8 summits originally were conceived as a conference of the world's leading industrialized democracies — a category that some critics say fails to include Russia, either economically or politically.
Defending his political conduct, Putin said at his earlier news conference with Bush:
"We assume that nobody knows better than us how we can strengthen our own nation. But we know for sure that we cannot strengthen our nation without developing democratic institutions, and this is the path that we will certainly take. But certainly, we will do this by ourselves."
During welcoming remarks with reporters present, the two leaders did not make eye contact. And they remained silent for the several minutes that it took for the journalists to leave the room. Only Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was able to break the ice — and that just by walking into the room in a light blue pantsuit.

Bush turned to Putin and said, "Very stylish."
Israel steps up assault on Beirut suburbs
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Warplanes bombed Beirut's southern suburbs again early Sunday, witnesses reported, after a day in which Israel tightened a noose around this reeling nation with the heaviest air strikes yet in the four-day-old conflict.
The Israeli air force on Saturday hit strongholds of the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah, bombed central Beirut for the first time, and pounded seaports and a key bridge. Then, in Sunday's early morning darkness, a half-dozen thunderous explosions shook southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered and much of the intensifying air assault has been targeted since cross-border hostilities erupted Wednesday.
Trying to defuse the crisis, Lebanon's prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah guerrillas — a move that might risk civil war. In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge Iran denied.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired waves of rockets ever deeper into Israel, and Israeli officials warned that Tel Aviv, 70 miles inside Israel, could be hit.
The death toll in the four-day-old conflict rose above 100 in Lebanon, and stood at 15 in Israel. The fighting erupted when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid.
Despite worldwide alarm, there was little indication either Western or Arab nations could muster a quick diplomatic solution. The United States and France prepared to evacuate their citizens, and Britain dispatched an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean in apparent preparation for evacuations.
Choking back tears, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the United Nations to broker a cease-fire for his "disaster-stricken nation."
The Western-backed prime minister, criticizing both Israel and Hezbollah, also pledged to reassert government authority over all Lebanese territory, suggesting his government might deploy the Lebanese army in the south, which Hezbollah effectively controls.
That would meet a repeated U.N. and U.S. demand. But any effort by Saniora's Sunni Muslim-led government to use force against the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas could trigger another bloody civil war in Lebanon. Many fear the 70,000-strong army itself might break up along sectarian lines, as it did during the 1975-90 civil war. Reacting to Saniora's statements, Israel's Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Lebanon must prove it was serious by deploying troops on the border. "We have to see what they do and not what they say," Peres told Israel's Channel 2 TV.
Iran, meanwhile, denied any role in the fighting, disputing Israeli claims that 100 Iranian soldiers had helped Hezbollah attack an Israeli warship late Friday.
There has been no sign in Lebanon of Iranian Revolutionary Guards for 15 years. But Iran is one of Hezbollah's principal backers along with Syria, providing weapons, money and political support. Many believe Iran and Syria are fueling the battle to show their strength in the region.
Despite such worries, there were few signs of diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting .
President Bush, on a trip to Russia, said it was up to Hezbollah "to lay down its arms and to stop attacking." But Russian President Vladimir Putin urged a balanced approach by Israel and said it appeared the nation was pursuing wider goals than the return of abducted soldiers.
Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, adopted a resolution calling for U.N. Security Council intervention. But moderates led by Saudi Arabia, bickering with Syria and other backers of Hezbollah, denounced the Lebanese guerrilla group's actions in provoking the latest conflict.
In one sign the West expects a drawn-out battle, the U.S. Embassy said it was looking into ways to get Americans in Lebanon to Cyprus. France said it had already decided to send a ferry from Cyprus to evacuate thousands of its nationals. The British were sending two warships, including the carrier Illustrious, toward Lebanon, in apparent preparation for evacuations. In all, 33 people were killed in Lebanon on Saturday, police said. That raised the Lebanese death toll in the four-day Israeli offensive to 106, mostly civilians. On the Israeli side, at least 15 have been killed, four civilians and 11 soldiers.
Israeli warplanes demolished the last bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway — over the Litani River, six miles from the Syrian border — trying to complete their seal on Lebanon.
Four days into the Israeli offensive, Lebanese themselves remained divided over Hezbollah's operation: Some angry and terrified, others proud.
"No one has stood up to Israel the way the resistance (Hezbollah) has," said a 33-year-old housewife, Laila Remeiti, one of about 130 people who have taken refuge at a Beirut government school.
But the toll across the country was clear, with bridges, seaports, military coastal radars and Hezbollah offices all attacked in intensive air raids and sea bombardments Saturday:
_Fleeing refugees, including women and children, were cut down on a road adjacent to the Lebanese-Israeli border in an airstrike as they left the village of Marwaheen. The bodies of several children, one headless, were sprawled on the ground. Police said 15 were killed in the afternoon attack and an Associated Press photographer counted 12 bodies in the two cars.
_At least three civilians were killed when another Israeli airstrike hit a bridge near the Syrian border, cutting the last land link on the main road to Syria and its capital, Damascus.
_In the afternoon, Israeli forces hit central Beirut, striking the port and a lighthouse on a posh seafront boulevard, a few hundred yards from the campus of the American University of Beirut. The seaport is adjacent to downtown Beirut, a district rebuilt at a cost of billions of dollars after the 1975-1990 civil war.
_The brunt of the onslaught focused more and more on Hezbollah's top leadership in south Beirut and the eastern city of Baalbek. Ambulances raced to a Baalbek residential neighborhood where black smoke rose from airstrikes. Israel also targeted the headquarters compound of Hezbollah's leadership in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of south Beirut for the second straight day.
Hezbollah in turn struck out repeatedly at Israel. Its rockets hit Tiberias three times on Saturday, the first attack on the city — 22 miles from Lebanon — since the 1973 Mideast war. At least two houses were directly hit, but only a few light injuries were reported, medics said.
Residents were ordered into bomb shelters, and Israeli media reported that hundreds of tourists were fleeing the city. Police used megaphones to urge bathers at the Sea of Galilee to seek shelter.
*Associated Press reporters Hussein Dakroub and Hamza Hendawi in Beirut, Nasser Nasser in south Lebanon and Matt Moore in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Israel tightens noose around Lebanon
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Waves of warplanes thundering through the darkness bombed Beirut's southern suburbs for hours early Sunday, a day after Israel stepped up its air strikes and tightened a noose around this reeling nation.
The Israeli air force on Saturday hit strongholds of the Hezbollah Shiite Muslim guerrilla group, bombed central Beirut for the first time, and pounded seaports and a key bridge. Then, after midnight and until 2:30 a.m., about 18 powerful explosions rocked southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered and much of the air assault has been aimed since cross-border hostilities erupted Wednesday. Israeli jets could be heard over the city, much of it darkened because airstrikes have knocked out power stations and the fuel depots feeding them. Hezbollah's TV aired footage showing two long columns of smoke rising from buildings into the night sky. Much of Shiite-populated southern Beirut was deserted, its residents having fled east to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
Trying to defuse the violence, which began when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid, Lebanon's prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah — a move that might risk civil war. In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping launch a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge both Hezbollah and Iran denied.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired barrages of rockets ever deeper into Israel, and Israeli officials warned that Tel Aviv, 70 miles inside Israel, could be hit. The death toll in the four-day-old conflict rose above 100 in Lebanon, and stood at 15 in Israel.
Despite worldwide alarm, there was little indication either Western or Arab nations could muster a quick diplomatic solution. In New York, Lebanon accused the United States of blocking a U.N. Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire. Diplomats said Washington for now preferred to see the issue dealt with at this weekend's Group of Eight meeting in Russia and in other ways. The United States and France, meantime, prepared to evacuate their citizens, and Britain dispatched an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean in apparent preparation for evacuations.
Choking back tears, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the United Nations to broker a cease-fire for his "disaster-stricken nation." The Western-backed prime minister, criticizing both Israel and Hezbollah, also pledged to reassert government authority over all Lebanese territory, suggesting his government might deploy the Lebanese army in the south, which Hezbollah effectively controls. That would meet a repeated U.N. and U.S. demand. But any effort by Saniora's Sunni Muslim-led government to use force against the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas could trigger another bloody civil war in Lebanon. Many fear the 70,000-strong army itself might break up along sectarian lines, as it did during the 1975-90 civil war.
Reacting to Saniora's statements, Israel's Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Lebanon must prove it was serious by deploying troops on the border. "We have to see what they do and not what they say," Peres told Israel's Channel 2 TV. Iran, meanwhile, denied any role in the fighting, disputing Israeli claims that 100 Iranian soldiers had helped Hezbollah attack an Israeli warship late Friday.
There has been no sign in Lebanon of Iranian Revolutionary Guards for 15 years. But Iran is one of Hezbollah's principal backers along with Syria, providing weapons, money and political support. Many believe Iran and Syria are fueling the battle to show their strength in the region. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again condemned Israel's Lebanon offensive Saturday, telling Tehran's state television, "The Zionist regime behaves like Hitler." In Indonesia, about 5,000 Muslims from a large Islamic political party protested Sunday in Jakarta against Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. Some held up signs saying "Israel is the real terrorist," while others waved Palestinian flags.
Despite global concerns, there were few signs of diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting. President Bush, on a trip to Russia, said it was up to Hezbollah "to lay down its arms and to stop attacking." But Russian President Vladimir Putin urged a balanced approach by Israel and said it appeared the nation was pursuing wider goals than the return of abducted soldiers. Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, adopted a resolution calling for U.N. Security Council intervention. But moderates led by Saudi Arabia, bickering with Syria and other backers of Hezbollah, denounced the Lebanese guerrilla group's actions in provoking the latest conflict. In one sign the West expects a drawn-out battle, the U.S. Embassy said it was looking into ways to get Americans in Lebanon to Cyprus. France said it had already decided to send a ferry from Cyprus to evacuate thousands of its nationals. The British were sending two warships, including the carrier Illustrious, toward Lebanon, in apparent preparation for evacuations.
In all, 33 people were killed in Lebanon on Saturday, police said. That raised the Lebanese death toll in the four-day Israeli offensive to 106, mostly civilians. On the Israeli side, at least 15 have been killed, four civilians and 11 soldiers. Israeli warplanes demolished the last bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway — over the Litani River, six miles from the Syrian border — trying to complete their seal on Lebanon. Four days into the Israeli offensive, Lebanese themselves remained divided over Hezbollah's operation: Some angry and terrified, others proud. "No one has stood up to Israel the way the resistance (Hezbollah) has," said a 33-year-old housewife, Laila Remeiti, one of about 130 people who have taken refuge at a Beirut government school.
But the toll across the country was clear, with bridges, seaports, military coastal radars and Hezbollah offices all attacked in intensive air raids and sea bombardments Saturday:
_Fleeing refugees, including women and children, were cut down on a road adjacent to the Lebanese-Israeli border in an airstrike as they left the village of Marwaheen. The bodies of several children, one headless, were sprawled on the ground. Police said 15 were killed in the afternoon attack and an Associated Press photographer counted 12 bodies in the two cars.
_At least three civilians were killed when another Israeli airstrike hit a bridge near the Syrian border, cutting the last land link on the main road to Syria and its capital, Damascus.
-In the afternoon, Israeli forces hit central Beirut, striking the port and a lighthouse on a posh seafront boulevard, a few hundred yards from the campus of the American University of Beirut. The seaport is adjacent to downtown Beirut, a district rebuilt at a cost of billions of dollars after the 1975-1990 civil war.
_The brunt of the onslaught focused more and more on Hezbollah's top leadership in south Beirut and the eastern city of Baalbek. Ambulances raced to a Baalbek residential neighborhood where black smoke rose from airstrikes. Israel also targeted the headquarters compound of Hezbollah's leadership in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of south Beirut for the second straight day.
Hezbollah in turn struck out repeatedly at Israel. Its rockets hit Tiberias three times on Saturday, the first attack on the city — 22 miles from Lebanon — since the 1973 Mideast war. At least two houses were directly hit, but only a few light injuries were reported, medics said.
Residents were ordered into bomb shelters, and Israeli media reported that hundreds of tourists were fleeing the city. Police used megaphones to urge bathers at the Sea of Galilee to seek shelter.
On Israel's second front, against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, Israeli aircraft on Saturday struck the Economy Ministry of the Hamas-led Palestinian government and three other targets, killing two people, Palestinian and Israeli officials reported.
Early Sunday, Israeli troops, tanks and attack helicopters were back inside the Gaza Strip again firing missiles and exchanging gunfire with armed Palestinians, signaling that the large-scale operation that began after a soldier was captured last month is still in full swing.
Israeli tanks entered the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, across the border from an Israeli town, Sderot, frequently hit by Hamas guerrilla rockets. Despite the incursion, militants fired two missiles that landed in Sderot, an AP Television cameraman reported. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.
Three Hamas gunmen were killed in the renewed Gaza fighting, Hamas said. At least 11 people were wounded in Israeli airstrikes in Beit Hanoun, including a child, hospital officials said.
Israel attacked Gaza on June 28, three days after Hamas-backed militants killed two soldiers and captured a third at an army post just inside Israel.
*Associated Press reporters Hussein Dakroub and Hamza Hendawi in Beirut, Nasser Nasser in south Lebanon and Matt Moore in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Israel steps up assault on Beirut suburbs-
Israel steps up assault on Beirut suburbs By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Warplanes bombed Beirut's southern suburbs again early Sunday, witnesses reported, after a day in which Israel tightened a noose around this reeling nation with the heaviest air strikes yet in the four-day-old conflict.
The Israeli air force on Saturday hit strongholds of the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah, bombed central Beirut for the first time, and pounded seaports and a key bridge. Then, in Sunday's early morning darkness, a half-dozen thunderous explosions shook southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered and much of the intensifying air assault has been targeted since cross-border hostilities erupted Wednesday.
Trying to defuse the crisis, Lebanon's prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah guerrillas — a move that might risk civil war. In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge Iran denied.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired waves of rockets ever deeper into Israel, and Israeli officials warned that Tel Aviv, 70 miles inside Israel, could be hit.
The death toll in the four-day-old conflict rose above 100 in Lebanon, and stood at 15 in Israel. The fighting erupted when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid.
Despite worldwide alarm, there was little indication either Western or Arab nations could muster a quick diplomatic solution. The United States and France prepared to evacuate their citizens, and Britain dispatched an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean in apparent preparation for evacuations.
Choking back tears, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the United Nations to broker a cease-fire for his "disaster-stricken nation."
The Western-backed prime minister, criticizing both Israel and Hezbollah, also pledged to reassert government authority over all Lebanese territory, suggesting his government might deploy the Lebanese army in the south, which Hezbollah effectively controls.
That would meet a repeated U.N. and U.S. demand. But any effort by Saniora's Sunni Muslim-led government to use force against the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas could trigger another bloody civil war in Lebanon. Many fear the 70,000-strong army itself might break up along sectarian lines, as it did during the 1975-90 civil war. Reacting to Saniora's statements, Israel's Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Lebanon must prove it was serious by deploying troops on the border. "We have to see what they do and not what they say," Peres told Israel's Channel 2 TV.
Iran, meanwhile, denied any role in the fighting, disputing Israeli claims that 100 Iranian soldiers had helped Hezbollah attack an Israeli warship late Friday.
There has been no sign in Lebanon of Iranian Revolutionary Guards for 15 years. But Iran is one of Hezbollah's principal backers along with Syria, providing weapons, money and political support. Many believe Iran and Syria are fueling the battle to show their strength in the region.
Despite such worries, there were few signs of diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting .
President Bush, on a trip to Russia, said it was up to Hezbollah "to lay down its arms and to stop attacking." But Russian President Vladimir Putin urged a balanced approach by Israel and said it appeared the nation was pursuing wider goals than the return of abducted soldiers.
Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, adopted a resolution calling for U.N. Security Council intervention. But moderates led by Saudi Arabia, bickering with Syria and other backers of Hezbollah, denounced the Lebanese guerrilla group's actions in provoking the latest conflict.
In one sign the West expects a drawn-out battle, the U.S. Embassy said it was looking into ways to get Americans in Lebanon to Cyprus. France said it had already decided to send a ferry from Cyprus to evacuate thousands of its nationals. The British were sending two warships, including the carrier Illustrious, toward Lebanon, in apparent preparation for evacuations. In all, 33 people were killed in Lebanon on Saturday, police said. That raised the Lebanese death toll in the four-day Israeli offensive to 106, mostly civilians. On the Israeli side, at least 15 have been killed, four civilians and 11 soldiers.
Israeli warplanes demolished the last bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway — over the Litani River, six miles from the Syrian border — trying to complete their seal on Lebanon.
Four days into the Israeli offensive, Lebanese themselves remained divided over Hezbollah's operation: Some angry and terrified, others proud.
"No one has stood up to Israel the way the resistance (Hezbollah) has," said a 33-year-old housewife, Laila Remeiti, one of about 130 people who have taken refuge at a Beirut government school.
But the toll across the country was clear, with bridges, seaports, military coastal radars and Hezbollah offices all attacked in intensive air raids and sea bombardments Saturday:
_Fleeing refugees, including women and children, were cut down on a road adjacent to the Lebanese-Israeli border in an airstrike as they left the village of Marwaheen. The bodies of several children, one headless, were sprawled on the ground. Police said 15 were killed in the afternoon attack and an Associated Press photographer counted 12 bodies in the two cars.
_At least three civilians were killed when another Israeli airstrike hit a bridge near the Syrian border, cutting the last land link on the main road to Syria and its capital, Damascus.
_In the afternoon, Israeli forces hit central Beirut, striking the port and a lighthouse on a posh seafront boulevard, a few hundred yards from the campus of the American University of Beirut. The seaport is adjacent to downtown Beirut, a district rebuilt at a cost of billions of dollars after the 1975-1990 civil war.
_The brunt of the onslaught focused more and more on Hezbollah's top leadership in south Beirut and the eastern city of Baalbek. Ambulances raced to a Baalbek residential neighborhood where black smoke rose from airstrikes. Israel also targeted the headquarters compound of Hezbollah's leadership in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of south Beirut for the second straight day.
Hezbollah in turn struck out repeatedly at Israel. Its rockets hit Tiberias three times on Saturday, the first attack on the city — 22 miles from Lebanon — since the 1973 Mideast war. At least two houses were directly hit, but only a few light injuries were reported, medics said.
Residents were ordered into bomb shelters, and Israeli media reported that hundreds of tourists were fleeing the city. Police used megaphones to urge bathers at the Sea of Galilee to seek shelter.
Associated Press reporters Hussein Dakroub and Hamza Hendawi in Beirut, Nasser Nasser in south Lebanon and Matt Moore in Jerusalem contributed to this report.