Thirteen Israeli soldiers were reported killed in fierce
fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon yesterday, and world
diplomats in Rome called for a lasting, but not immediate,
ceasefire in the 15-day-old war.
Participants at the crisis conference on Lebanon pledged to work
urgently for a "lasting, permanent and sustainable" ceasefire, but
did not demand that the fighting stop now.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the conference had
agreed that a UN-mandated international force was needed.
NATO's chief said it was too early to discuss a possible role
for the alliance, as suggested by Israel.
The Rome conference agreed to convene a donors' meeting for
Lebanon and urged Israel to exercise restraint in its assault,
launched after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers
and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12.
In the latest fighting, Lebanese security sources said
guerrillas ambushed an Israeli force advancing on the town of Bint
Jbeil, four kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hezbollah sources said the Israeli force was cut off and most of
its vehicles were destroyed. "Our men can hear the screams of their
wounded calling for help," one source said.
Al-Jazeera television said 13 soldiers had been killed. If
confirmed, the toll would be the Israeli army's worst one-day loss
since it launched its Lebanon offensive two weeks ago.
Gaza offensive
In the Gaza Strip, scene of another Israeli offensive, Israeli
forces killed 14 Palestinians, including nine militants and a
three-year-old girl, in fighting across the territory.
Israel has killed 133 Palestinians in a month-long campaign to
recover a captured soldier and stop rocket fire from Gaza.
Its war against Hezbollah has killed at least 418 people in
Lebanon, mostly civilians. At least 42 Israelis have also died.
The battles occurred as foreign ministers, including Rice, met
in Rome to discuss how to end the conflict and bring humanitarian
aid to Lebanon.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had said he wanted the meeting
to urge the Security Council to call for an immediate ceasefire an
idea resisted by Washington, which wants a "durable solution"
first.
Annan said it was important to include Iran and Syria to reach
an agreement to end fighting in Lebanon. Rice has blamed the two
countries, Hezbollah's main allies, for stoking the conflict.
Israel, Iran and Syria were not invited to the Rome talks.
Hezbollah vowed not to accept "humiliating" truce terms and to
take its rocket strikes deeper into Israel. Hours later, more
missiles hit the port of Haifa, wounding several people, police
said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert strove to limit diplomatic
damage from the killing of four UN observers in an air strike on
their post in south Lebanon Tuesday, telling Annan he was sorry at
the deaths, but expressing shock at the UN chief's suggestion the
attack was deliberate.
UN officials said the raid flattened the building housing the
observers. Initial UN assessments suggested Israel had used
precision-guided munitions, diplomats in Jerusalem said.
Humanitarian crisis
Israeli bombing has forced an estimated 750,000 people to flee
their homes. Many are still trapped in war zones.
The first UN aid convoy left Beirut for the southern port of
Tyre. The 10 trucks were carrying 90 tons of supplies, including
enough medicine for 50,000 people for three months.
A Jordanian military plane landed at Beirut airport to evacuate
badly wounded people from among 2,000 hurt in Lebanon so far. It
was the first jet to land at the airport since Israeli planes
bombed runways on July 13.
Israel, with tacit US approval, has said it will press on with
its assault. It also plans to enforce a narrow no-go zone reaching
two kilometers into south Lebanon with air strikes and artillery
fire until international forces are deployed.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose group ignited the
war by capturing two Israeli soldiers in a raid into Israel on July
12, rejected US ceasefire conditions.
(China Daily July 27, 2006)
