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Fighting Rages at Lebanon-Israel Border    [

    US Won't Push for Immediate Cease-Fire
    By Nedra Pickler
    The Associated Press

    Monday 24 July 2006

    White House officials said President Bush remains opposed to an immediate cease-fire to stop violence in the Middle East, despite personal pleas from ally Saudi Arabia that he help stop the bloodshed.

    Saudi King Abdullah beseeched Bush to intervene in Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the death toll is approaching 400 after less than two weeks of bombing. Abdullah's request was hand-delivered to Bush by Saudi officials who requested a meeting Sunday at the White House.

    "We requested a cease-fire to allow for a cessation of hostilities," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters as he departed the West Wing.

    "I have brought a letter from the Saudi king to stop the bleeding in Lebanon, and there has been an agreement to save Lebanese lives, Lebanese properties and what the Lebanese have built, and to save this country from the ordeal it is facing," Saud said.

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also participated in the Oval Office meeting before making a surprise visit to Lebanon on Monday in a show of support for that country's weakened democracy, which is struggling to contain the fighting between the Hezbollah militia and Israel.

    "We all want to urgently end the fighting. We have absolutely the same goal," Rice told reporters traveling with her.

    It was the first U.S. diplomatic effort on the ground since Israel began bombing Lebanon on July 12. The fighting has killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel.

    The Bush administration has refused to press for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict.

    "Our position on an immediate cease-fire is well known and has not changed," said White House national security spokesman Frederick Jones.

    On the way to a refueling stop in Ireland, Rice discussed the possibility of working with Syria to resolve the crisis. In recent weeks, the Bush administration has blamed Syria, along with Iran, for stoking the recent violence by encouraging Hezbollah to attack northern Israel.

    "The problem isn't that people haven't talked to the Syrians. It's that the Syrians haven't acted," she said.

    "It's not as if we don't have diplomatic relations," she said. "We do."

    Officials from the United Nations, Europe and other Arab countries have already urged an end to the fighting. Rice and Bush have rejected calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying it does not make sense if the terrorist threat from Hezbollah is not addressed. They have said Israel has a right to defend itself from terrorism and Hezbollah must return two captured Israeli soldiers and stop firing missiles and rockets into Israel if they want the fighting to stop.

    For years, the Saudis have been among the United States' closest allies in the Arab world, despite strains from U.S. pressures aimed at increasing democracy in the conservative kingdom.

    Nail al-Jubeir, a Saudi embassy spokesman, said the Saudis would not release the letter or get into other details of the proposal because it was a private communication between Abdullah and Bush. Asked whether the Saudis requested that Bush directly pressure Israeli leaders for a cease-fire, al-Jubeir said they cannot tell the president whom to telephone. But he noted Bush has a unique influence to negotiate with Israel.

    "The U.S. has the authority, it has the clout with Israel," he said. "For us to go and talk to the Israelis isn't going to do anything."

    A White House spokeswoman, Eryn Witcher, would not comment on the Saudi proposal. She said Bush and the Saudis have "shared goals of helping the people of Lebanon and restoring sovereignty of the government of Lebanon and building stronger Lebanese armed forces."

    "They discussed the humanitarian situation and reconstruction and putting conditions in place for an end to violence," Witcher said.

    Witcher said participants in the meeting including Saud; Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the secretary general of the Saudi national security council; Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States; Adil al-Jubayr, the counselor to Abdullah; and Rihab Massoud, the deputy secretary general of the Saudi national security council.

    Rice plans meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In addition, she will go to Rome for sessions with representatives of European and moderate Arab governments, including Saudi Arabia, with the goal of shoring up the weak democratic government in Lebanon.

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    Fighting Rages at Lebanon-Israel Border
    By Kathy Gannon
    The Associated Press

    Monday 24 July 2006

    Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Lebanon on Monday in heavy fighting and captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, while two aid convoys carrying food, generators and other badly needed supplies left Beirut for two southern cities.

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut to launch diplomatic efforts aimed at ending 13 days of warfare. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora told her his government is hoping to "put an end to the war being inflicted on Lebanon."

    Israel has not bombed Beirut since Sunday afternoon and appeared to have stopped all airstrikes on the city in deference to Rice's visit.

    Saniora has pleaded with Washington to press Israel to call a total cease-fire in bombardment that has demolished Lebanon's infrastructure and killed hundreds. President Bush has opposed an immediate cease-fire, saying the root cause of the conflict must be resolved.

    Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks published Monday the priority is for a cease-fire and he was open to discussing ideas on ending the crisis.

    Fierce fighting raged at the border as Israeli troops moved deeper into Lebanon to besiege the biggest town close to the frontier - Bint Jbail, nicknamed the "capital of the resistance" due to its intense support of Hezbollah during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of the south. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded.

    Bint Jbail holds strong symbolism for Hezbollah. Signs in the city tout its nickname, earned for its vehement backing of the guerrillas even while Israeli troops held the south. A day after Israel ended its occupation in 2000, Nasrallah went straight to Bint Jbail for his first celebration rally.

    Much of the town's population of 30,000 is believed to have fled, but many remain. A Red Cross doctor who visited Sunday, Dr. Hassan Nasreddine, said he saw families crowded into schools, mosques and other shelters.

    Following an intense artillery barrage, Israeli troops took control of a hilltop in Bint Jbail, but the rest of the town was held by Hezbollah guerrillas, military officials said.

    An Israeli helicopter crashed in northern Israel after hitting an electrical wire while making an emergency landing, killing both pilots.

    Hezbollah said it caused Israeli casualties in hits on five tanks on the road to Bint Jbail and around Maroun al-Ras, a hilltop village closer to the border that Israeli ground forces seized in heavy weekend fighting.

    Israel said its troops captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, the first it had taken in the Lebanon fighting. Brig. Gen. Alon Friedman said they are being held in Israel "with the aim of interrogating them."

    Hezbollah continued its missile attacks on northern Israel, firing more than 40 rockets and slightly wounding 13. Militants fired 95 rockets on Sunday and 129 on Saturday, the Israeli military said. U.N. observers in south Lebanon said the Israeli numbers appear accurate.

    Sunday was one of the heaviest days of Israeli bombardment, with 270 targets, compared with 120 the day before, according to the military.

    At least 384 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters, according to security officials. At least 600,000 Lebanese have fled their homes, according to the WHO - with an estimate by Lebanon's finance minister putting the number at 750,000, nearly 20 percent of the population.

    Israel's death toll stands at 37, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 20 soldiers killed in the fighting.

    Up to 40 percent of the 200,000 Lebanese who live in villages along territory closest to the border are likely still in their homes, unable or too afraid to move because of Israeli shelling, U.N. observers said. They are in the path of any Israeli advance.

    Officials were trying to move aid along shattered roads to the south where it's needed most - although Israel has not defined a safe route to the region. Tens of thousands have fled the war zone, packing into the southern port city of Sidon and other refuges.

    Two convoys carrying generators for hospitals, food, tarpaulins and hygiene kits were heading from Beirut to Tyre and the southern city of Marjayoun, said Hisham Hassan, ICRC spokesman in Lebanon.

    Aid was starting to move into Beirut's port after Israel opened it for humanitarian ships. An Italian warship brought food, medicine, tents, blankets, water, electrical generators and ambulances. A ferry carrying supplies from France also arrived.

    U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland appealed for $150 million in humanitarian aid for the next three months for food, health care, water and sanitation. He said 500,000 to 800,000 people have been affected by the fighting.

    Egeland said he was asking the Israelis for safe passage for aid ships to enter the northern port of Tripoli and the southern port of Tyre. So far, Israel has loosened its sea blockade only for Beirut.

    Rice's unannounced visit aimed to show support for the embattled, Western-backed government and to tackle what the United States and Israel believe to be the key to bringing peace: ending Hezbollah's domination along the Israeli border.

    Her mission is the first U.S. effort on the ground to try to resolve the crisis that began July 12 with Israel's onslaught on Lebanon sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. Rice flew by helicopter from Cyprus to Beirut, then traveled under heavy guard in a motorcade to Saniora's office.

    She praised Saniora's "courage and steadfastness." After meeting for more than an hour, they left without speaking to reporters.

    Rice also visited parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally. Going into the session at Berri's lavish office and residence, Rice said, "I am deeply concerned about the Lebanese people and what they are enduring. I am obviously concerned about the humanitarian situation."

    She was in the city for about five hours and then returned to Cyprus.

    The White House has said an international force may be needed to help the Lebanese army move into the south, which the Beirut government has long refused, wary of confronting the guerrillas' power there and of tearing apart the country.

    Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia were pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas, Arab diplomats in Cairo said. Israel signaled a policy shift, saying it would accept an international force - preferably from NATO - to ensure the peace in southern Lebanon.

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he hoped to give details of a cease-fire plan in the next few days.

    In Tehran, Hezbollah representative in Iran warned that his militant group plans to widen its attacks on Israelis until "there will be no place they are safe." Hossein Safiadeen said there would be "a new Middle East in the way of Hezbollah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel."

    En route to the region, Rice discussed possibly working with Syria on a solution. The Bush administration has blamed Syria, along with Iran, for stoking the violence by encouraging Hezbollah to attack northern Israel.

    "The problem isn't that people haven't talked to the Syrians. It's that the Syrians haven't acted," she said. "It's not as if we don't have diplomatic relations. We do."

    Rice has tried to walk delicately between supporting the Lebanese government while also not dictating to its ally Israel how it should handle its own security. Her posture has frustrated numerous allies.

    "We all want to urgently end the fighting. We have absolutely the same goal," Rice said. But she added that if the violence ends only to restart within weeks, "then all of the carnage that Hezbollah launched by its illegal activities - abducting the soldiers and then launching rocket attacks - we will have gotten nothing from that."

    More foreigners fled Lebanon by sea from Beirut. A Greek ferry commissioned by European countries arrived in Tyre and took on hundreds of stranded foreigners.

    A group of 300 Americans and 100 other Europeans were believed trapped in villages south of the city, and it was not known if they would make it to the ship before it leaves in the evening, said Erik Rattat, a German official involved in the operation.

    Some 11,700 Americans have fled Lebanon, the State Department said. U.S. Consul William Gill said most Americans who wanted to leave had done so by Sunday.