Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/28cnd-mideast.html
July 28, 2006
Mideast Fight Enters 17th Day as Rice Vows to Return
By GREG MYRE and CHRISTINE HAUSER [US] [Israel’s 2-front war] [followup] [roughly day 16] [*****************] [“arab street siding with undergod, Hezbollah] [*************] [in today’s external and govt]
JERUSALEM, July 28 — As Israeli air strikes and artillery pounded Lebanon and Hezbollah rockets struck northern Israel in a 17th day of fighting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged today to return to the Middle East to achieve an “early end” to the violence. [***********]
“Let me be very clear, I am going to return to the Middle East,” Ms. Rice said at a news conference in Malaysia where she attended a summit. She did not say when she would return.
“The question is, when is it right for me to return to the Middle East?” she said. “I do think it is important that groundwork be laid so I can make the most of whatever time I can spend there.” [*************]
Ms. Rice added, “That means that we have to help the parties establish conditions that will make it possible for an early cease-fire that, nonetheless, does not return us to the status quo.”
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain arrived in the United States this morning for talks with President Bush on the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah said that it had fired longer-range rockets today, and struck an Israeli city further south than the region it has been hitting regularly since the conflict started on July 12.
A statement on the Arabic-language Web site of Al Manar television, which is owned by Hezbollah, said that five Khaybar-1 rockets were fired, and struck the city of Afula, southeast of Haifa and further inland.
It said the rockets were fired in response to the “Zionist aggression,” and accused Israel of deliberately aiming bombs and missiles at civilians.
Some 5,000 Islamist demonstrators marched outside the hotel where Ms. Rice is staying in Kuala Lumpur, holding placards that were strongly critical of the United States and Israel.
“Rice, Go Home,” the demonstrators chanted. The placards read: “Hamas Hezbollah, Axis of Justice” and “Israel America, Axis of Evil.” [****************]
In a multinational conference on the Middle East crisis in Rome on Wednesday, Ms. Rice successfully argued for language in a joint communique calling for a “sustainable” cease-fire including political elements, rather than an immediate one, a stance that had the effect of buying time for Israel to pursue its military campaign against Hezbollah. [***********]
Israeli officials said later that in fact, the declaration gave Israel the world’s permission to continue strikes in Lebanon against Hezbollah targets. [a bit inpolitic on their part] [***********]
But today, a State Department spokesman, Adam Ereli, said that such an interpretation of the Rome declaration was “outrageous,” and that the United States was working for a durable end to the conflict.
Israel’s government has approved call-ups for as many as 30,000 reserve troops, suggesting that it may be gearing up for a protracted battle. The country’s security cabinet nonetheless ruled out a major military escalation for now, opting to maintain a focus on wide-ranging air strikes and limited ground incursions along the border.
At least 10 people were reported killed today in villages near the coastal town of Tyre in southern Lebanon, where Israeli air strikes were most intense.
Israeli jets also hit several buildings near the town of Nabatiyeh, killing three people and wounding nine, according to Lebanese security officials cited by the A.P.
Israel unleashed an artillery barrage on roads and suspected Hezbollah posts in the hills and mountains of southeastern Lebanon. A base in the Bekaa Valley was also bombed.
The Israeli military said it carried out more than 180 aerial strikes in Lebanon during the 24-hour period that ended Friday morning, and there were no signs of a letup during the day Friday.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, maintained its rocket fire on northern Israel on Friday. About 50 rockets hit northern Israel as of the afternoon, though only a few minor injuries were reported.
The Israeli military also said it has killed more than 200 Hezbollah militants since the fighting began with a cross-border raid on July 12. Hezbollah has given only occasional figures, putting the number at around 30.
The Lebanese government says that overall, more than 400 people have been killed, the vast majority of them civilians, and it believes that up to 200 more dead may still be buried under rubble.
Among the recent casualties were four unarmed United Nations observers.
Today, a United Nations official said there would be an investigation into why they were killed on Tuesday despite repeated warnings that the firing was coming too close to the observation post.
“Why did they go on firing?” said the deputy secretary general at the United Nations, Mark Malloch Brown, on CNN.
“Our role there is critical if there is to be some kind of ceasefire,” he said.
At the United Nations on Thursday, the Security Council adopted a statement that expressed shock and distress at the killings of the observers but avoided the direct criticism of Israel and its motives that had been in earlier drafts.
The issue has become a heated one at the United Nations because of initial claims on Tuesday night in Rome by Secretary General Kofi Annan that the attack may have been deliberate. In a Security Council briefing on Wednesday, United Nations officials told of their daylong efforts to stop Israeli attacks on the outpost in southern Lebanon where the men — from China, Austria, Finland and Canada — were killed.
Today, a United Nations spokesman said that eight unarmed United Nations military observers have been temporarily relocated from border positions in southern Lebanon for safety reasons.
“The two remaining positions in Marwaheen and Markaba were temporarily relocated. They are manned by eight unarmed observers,” said Milos Strugar, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, according to Agence France-Presse.
Greg Myre reported from Jerusalem and Christine Hauser from New York. Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Kuala Lumpur.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company