TV grab shows Israeli warplanes continued to pound Lebanon,
July 19, 2006. Israeli air strikes on Lebanon killed 61 civilians and one
Hezbollah fighter on Wednesday, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old
war yet. (CCTV Photo) |
Photo
Gallery>> Special Report>>
BEIJING, July 20 -- Israeli warplanes continued to
pound Lebanon, despite Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's calls for
ceasefire. But the US is still against a ceasefire in the region.
Israeli air strikes on Lebanon killed 61 civilians
and one Hezbollah fighter on Wednesday, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old
war yet.
Hezbollah rockets killed two Arab-Israeli children in
the northern Israeli city of Nazareth. More Hezbollah rockets fell on the city
of Haifa and one hit an empty seafront restaurant.
|
TV grab shows Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
called for a ceasefire and international aid at a news conference on July
19, 2006. According to him, by Wednesday evening 300 were killed and 1,000
wounded in his country. (CCTV Photo)
|
TV grab shows John Bolton, US ambassador to
UN, speaks on the Israel-Lebanon crisis, July 19, 2006.United
States dug in its heels on Wednesday against UN calls for a cease-fire
between Israel and Lebanon. (CCTV
Photo) |
Israeli troops crossed the border to raid Hezbollah
posts and the Israeli army said two of its soldiers were killed and nine injured
in fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas.
In a news conference on Wednesday Lebanese Prime
Minister Fouad Siniora called for a ceasefire and international aid.
"On behalf of the people of Lebanon, from Beirut to
Baalbeck and Byblos to Tyre, Sidon and Qana, to each and everyone of the 21
villages at the southern border declared a no-go zone by Israel to Tripoli to
Zahle to every town. I call upon you all to respond immediately without
reservation or hesitation to this appeal for an immediate ceasefire, and for the
lifting of the siege, and provide urgent humanitarian assistance to our war
stricken country.
According to the Lebanese Prime Minister, by
Wednesday evening 300 were killed and 1,000 wounded in his country.
However, the United States dug in its heels on
Wednesday against UN calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon. John
Bolton said, "The notion that you just declare a ceasefire and act as if that is
going to solve the problem, I think is simplistic. Among other things, I want
somebody to address the problem how you get a ceasefire with a terrorist
organization. I'd like to know when there's been an effective cease fire between
a terrorist organization and a state in the past."
France, in a paper circulated to council members late
on Tuesday, suggested a Security Council resolution that would call for a
lasting cease-fire, the release of abducted Israeli soldiers and the possibility
of a peacekeeping force.
(Source: CCTV.com)
Related story:
Israeli bombing drags on as Westerners
flee Lebanon
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes on
Thursday shelled a purported Hezbollah leadership bunker in south Beirut as
thousands more foreigners fled war-affected Lebanon.
The warplanes dropped more than 20 tons of explosives
on the purported Hezbollah leadership bunker on the deadliest day of the
bombardment that began after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah
guerrillas.
Hezbollah said none of its members had been
killed by the intense Israeli bombing, which the Israeli army said
was carried out by 20 planes on the site of a purported Hezbollah leadership
"bunker."
Concerns mounted over the humanitarian crisis, with
the United Nations warning of an impending
"catastrophe" as Israel's bombing campaign killed 72 people on
Wednesday, the bloodiest day since the attacks began a week earlier.
Thousands more foreigners, mostly westerners,
were being evacuated by sea from Beirut to Cyprus, fleeing the
Israel-Hezbollah hostilities that have killed more than 300 people and displaced
an estimated half a million others.
More than 1,000 foreigners, mainly Americans, arrived
in Cyprus from Beirut on a chartered cruise liner, with U.S. diplomats planning to evacuate some 6,000 nationals from
Lebanon by Friday.
Britain is also planning to evacuate about 5,000 nationals by the
end of the week.
A Russian Emergencies Ministry plane brought
130 Russians and 32 citizens from Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova to
Moscow on Wednesday. A second plane is expected to move out more evacuees on
Thursday.
Full story>>
