LEBANON & ISRAEL - Many casualties in Lebanon strike

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Sunday, 30 July 2006,

06:30 GMT 07:30 UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many

casualties in Lebanon strike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Israel has been

battling Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon

 

 

 

Dozens

of people have been killed or injured in an Israeli air strike on a building

near the southern Lebanese town of Qana, reports say.

Initial reports suggest that displaced families

had been sheltering in the basement of the three-storey building, which was destroyed.

 

Local emergency workers said there were many children among the

casualties.

The strike comes as Hezbollah militants fight Israeli forces

following a new incursion into southern Lebanon.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to meet Israeli and

Lebanese leaders after returning to the region for the second time in a week.

 

Talks will raise a possible new UN Security Council resolution

that would enable the deployment of peacekeepers.

The Lebanese Shia militia's leader, Hassan

Nasrallah, said Ms Rice had returned to serve the interests of the US and Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The UN says some 600 people - about a third of

them children - have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon since their

operations began nearly three weeks ago.

A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have

been killed in the conflict, sparked by Hezbollah's capture of

two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid earlier in July.

Escalation

The Israeli strike destroyed several buildings in the village

between Qana and the village of Aitit.

Reliable casualty figures are not yet

clear, but first accounts suggest they may be very high. Sources in the

Lebanese Red Cross say as many as 50 or 60 people may have been killed, and

many others injured.

Despite the dangers on the roads, ambulances

ferried some of the survivors to hospitals further inland

and the coastal city of Tyre.

The incident came amid an apparent intensification of

hostilities.

Israeli gunboats off the coast near Tyre have been

firing heavy-calibre shells into the hills, apparently in support of ground

forces.

Correspondents say the

question is whether this flare-up is part of an escalation that will continue

despite diplomatic efforts to seek a

ceasefire - or a sign that a truce may be coming soon, with the two sides

trying to get a final blow in before the fighting stops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5228224.stm

 

LEBANON dasha: Ve/Mo/Ju/Ra/Mo

 

 

 

ISRAEL dasha: Mo/Mo/Sa/Ra/Sa

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

satva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jorge Angelino

 

 

Rua da Sociedade Filarmónica

Perpétua Azeitonense, 29

2925-598 Azeitão

Portugal

 

 

 

 

jorge.angelino

 

 

 

 

 

 

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