Israel warns thousands to flee Lebanon
It warns southern Lebanese to flee as it looks to a likely ground offensive amid calls from international leaders for a cease-fire.
By Matthew Schofield and Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Foreign Correspondents
Last update: July 20, 2007 – 7:52 PM
JERUSALEM - The broad outlines of a diplomatic strategy to end Israel-Hezbollah fighting emerged Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for a cease-fire and the United States announcing that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the Middle East as early as Sunday. Also, a coalition of U.S. lawmakers will go to Israel this weekend to assess the situation.
Israel said it wouldn't stop fighting until it had achieved its military goals. It warned hundreds of thousands to flee southern Lebanon "immediately," preparing for a likely ground offensive to set up a buffer zone at least 20 miles deep, military officials said.
Israel has pounded villages near the border where it says Hezbollah fighters have hidden. But Thursday's effort to push out civilians went deeper into Lebanese territory, reaching north to Tyre and the Litani River.
Four Israeli soldiers reportedly died in southern Lebanon in daylong clashes near where two Israeli soldiers were killed a day earlier. Officials said an air force officer was killed and three hurt when two Apache helicopters crashed in northern Israel near the border early today.
Small groups of Israeli troops have crossed into Lebanon in the past several days, searching for weaponry and Hezbollah outposts. Increasingly, Hezbollah fighters have met these Israeli forays with fierce resistance, indicating that they have been able to evade the barrage of airstrikes.
"I can confirm without exaggerating or using psychological warfare that we have not been harmed," said Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
But as fighting moved into its ninth day, the number of Hezbollah rockets hitting Israel dropped to 50, a sharp drop from 115 the day before.
Israeli air raids again rained devastation on Beirut's southern suburbs, and thousands of residents scrambled to escape.
In Washington, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said late Thursday that Reps. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.; Jane Harman, D-Calif.; Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.; and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., members of the House Intelligence Committee, will go to Israel this weekend to discuss efforts to end the fighting.
Rice and President Bush so far have refused to intervene.
As the death toll rose to 330 in Lebanon as well as at least 32 Israelis, Annan called for an end to hostilities. He denounced Israel for "excessive use of force" and Hezbollah for holding "an entire nation hostage" with its rocket attacks and capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Annan suggested several steps to end the crisis, including an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon; Lebanon's agreement to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the dismantling of militias such as Hezbollah; funding for Lebanon's reconstruction, and a summit that would delineate Lebanon's disputed borders.
Nasrallah said the captured Israelis would be released only as part of a trade of prisoners with Israel. Without that, the soldiers would not be released even "if the whole universe comes against us," he said.
In addition to strikes in southern Lebanon, Israel launched air raids Thursday in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah's main logistics center, and the Shiite Muslim group's stronghold of south Beirut. Overall, Israeli officials say they have hit more than 1,000 targets in Lebanon.
With the humanitarian crisis worsening, the son of assassinated Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri, in Rome to seek support for his country, won endorsement Thursday from Italy and the Vatican for an immediate cease-fire and the opening of a humanitarian corridor.
Saad Hariri, majority leader of the Lebanese parliament, said the envisioned corridor from Cyprus to Beirut would get supplies to more than half a million displaced Lebanese in need of food and medicine.
"It is an unbearable situation," Hariri said. "It is not fair for Lebanese to pay the price for something they are not part of."
Israel warns thousands to flee Lebanon
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