Israel agreed yesterday to allow aid airlifts to Lebanon but
said it was determined to pursue a war against Hezbollah despite a
heavy civilian death toll.
After meeting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said both agreed that disarming
Hezbollah and deploying an international force in its place in
southern Lebanon were key to resolving the two-week-long
crisis.
Israel said it would hold a "security strip" inside southern
Lebanon until that force arrived.
The war will take center stage at an international conference in
Rome today where Arab and some European nations are expected to
call for an immediate ceasefire over Washington's objections. Rice
will attend the meeting.
On the battlefield, Israeli troops and tanks fought Hezbollah
inside the guerrilla stronghold town of Bint Jbeil in southern
Lebanon. Israel said it killed up to 30 fighters.
Israeli warplanes bombarded Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold and
launched 100 strikes across south Lebanon. One attack killed a
family of seven, Lebanese security sources said. Hezbollah rockets
killed a 15-year-old girl in an Arab Israeli town in the Galilee,
medics said. A total of 411 people in Lebanon and 42 Israelis have
been killed in the conflict.
Rice, who spelled out Washington's terms for a truce to Lebanese
leaders during a visit to bomb-battered Beirut Monday, said it was
time for a "new Middle East."
"A durable solution will be one that strengthens the forces of
peace and democracy in the region," Rice said alongside Olmert.
Amid mounting international concern at civilian casualties and
the plight of people displaced in Lebanon, Olmert said Israel would
allow aid airlifts to reach the country.
Israel imposed an air and sea blockade and bombed Beirut airport
runways after Hezbollah killed eight of its soldiers and abducted
two others in a July 12 cross-border raid.
Lebanon says Israel's bombardment has displaced a fifth of its
population. Most of its dead are civilians.
"The prime minister said Israel will allow, with advance
coordination, for planes carrying humanitarian aid to land at
Beirut airport," Olmert's office said.
UN humanitarian agencies said they were still largely blocked
from bringing relief supplies into Lebanon and from getting injured
and very sick people to hospitals.
Olmert said Israel had to press on with its offensive as
Hezbollah rockets rained on northern Israel.
But Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said the operations could
ignite a wider war in the Middle East.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the main objective of
the Rome meeting would be to secure a ceasefire, despite Washington
and Israel's belief it can only lay the groundwork.
Rice has made clear she is not seeking a quick ceasefire and
that any solution should address the root causes of the conflict
for which Washington and Israel blame Hezbollah and its backers in
Iran and Syria.
(China Daily July 26, 2006)
