30m US aid for Lebanon, but no ceasefire

[Spring Onion]

30m US aid for Lebanon, but no ceasefire
Lebanon rejects Rice’s proposals : Heavy fighting as Israeli troops move deeper into Lebanon : Seven more civilians, three Hizbollah men and four Israeli soldiers killed : Israeli shelling claims five lives in Gaza Strip
Agencies

TEL AVIV: President George W Bush has ordered helicopters and ships to Lebanon to provide humanitarian aid, but he still opposes an immediate cease-fire that could give relief from a 13-day-old Israeli bombing campaign.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to Lebanon Monday and insisted Hizbollah must release two Israeli soldiers and pull back from the border before any ceasefire, Lebanese politicians said. Shortly after she left Lebanon, the White House reiterated its opposition to an immediate ceasefire.

“I think the notion that you have a ceasefire at this point is unenforceable and does not really get us to the point we need to be at,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said. Washington has been at odds with allies in not calling for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting.

The US announced a 30 million dollar immediate aid package for Lebanon and said US forces would begin airlifting supplies today (Tuesday).

Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, speaking to reporters travelling with Rice on her Middle East trip, said the US package would include 100,000 medical kits, 2,000 plastic sheets and 20,000 blankets. Rice extended sympathy to the Lebanese government in Beirut but offered little hope for an immediate end to the conflict.

“Thank you for your courage and steadfastness,” she told Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who has pleaded for an immediate ceasefire.

But Rice later told Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is an ally of Hizbollah and is also close to Syria, that “the situation on the border cannot return to what it was before July 12,” a Lebanese political source said.

An official close to the speaker said Berri rejected Rice’s proposals, inisisting a ceasefire must preceed any talks about resolving Hezbollah’s presence in the south.The tone of the meeting was very negative,” the Lebanese source said. Another source said Rice had also proposed deployment of the Lebanese army on the border, backed by an international force. Snow also told reporters that Rice would announce a “significant US commitment in terms of humanitarian aid” to the Lebanese people caught up in the conflict.

“I am deeply concerned about the Lebanese people and what they are enduring,” Rice told reporters before meeting Berri.

Siniora told Rice that the Israeli bombing had displaced 750,000 people in Lebanon, almost one-fifth of the population, and inflicted multi-billion dollar loses to the economy, a statement from his office said.

Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Lebanon Monday, entering a Hezbollah stronghold amid heavy fighting that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded at least 20 others, the military said, AP reported.

Israeli troops were locked in bloody battles with Hizbollah fighters Monday as they tried to advance deeper into Lebanon but stopped just short of the border area’s main town, Reuters said.

Israeli air raids killed at least seven civilians and wounded 50 in south Lebanon. Bombs also hit a Shia area of Beirut. Three Hizbollah fighters were also killed in the south and a policeman’s body was also discovered under the rubble in an eastern town.

Two brothers, aged 9 and 11, and their uncle were killed in their home north of Tyre.

Israeli jets blew apart three adjacent buildings in six raids. Several people were buried in the debris, residents said. Another resident was killed in a dawn attack on the same village.

Two other civilians were killed when their house south of Tyre was destroyed, and an attack on a nearby Palestinian refugee camp killed one of the inhabitants, medical officials said.

Hizbollah said it had shot down an Israeli helicopter and hit five tanks, inflicting casualties in fierce battles that erupted after Israeli forces pushed north from a border village.

A dozen Israeli soldiers, including a commander of an elite infantry battalion, were wounded in the fighting, an Israeli military spokesman said.

Arab television channels said four Israeli soldiers had been killed. Israel’s army said two airmen died in the helicopter crash, which it said was probably caused by a technical fault.

The tank thrust towards Bint Jbeil, about 4 km inside Lebanon, was one of several recent Israeli forays in search of Hizbollah fighters and rocket-launchers.

Rice is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before discussing the crisis with European and Arab officials in Rome Wednesday.

Israel’s Lebanon offensive coincided with an Israeli military push into the Gaza Strip to try to recover a soldier captured by Palestinian militants on June 25.

Israeli shelling killed five people and wounded several others in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said.

Residents of Bint Jbeil took what shelter they could in their homes for want of underground shelters, witnesses said. Many families had already left the town in the face of the Israeli offensive now in its 13th day.






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