The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Lebanon in New York on Friday, with Beirut demanding support for an immediate end to the daily Israeli air strikes on its territory.
The debate began just hours after Israeli forces bombarded the command headquarters of the Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut and fears mounted of all-out war in the region.
The meeting was convened at the request of the Lebanese government, which called on the Security Council to ”adopt a complete and immediate position for a ceasefire”.
According to Danish ambassador Ellen Loj, the council members would discuss adopting a presidential statement to support the three-man crisis team sent by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the Middle East on Thursday to try to rein in the escalating violence in the region.
The team, led by Annan’s special political adviser, Vijay Nambiar, would begin its week-long mission in Cairo, meeting with Egyptian officials and Arab League foreign ministers.
It was then expected to travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria.
According to Lebanese police, more than 60 civilians have been killed since Israel began its offensive two days ago in retaliation for the capture of two soldiers and the killing of eight others by Hezbollah.
Laying out the Israeli position before the council meeting, a government spokesperson said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had imposed three conditions for a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Hezbollah should release the two captured Israeli soldiers and cease firing rockets into Israeli territory, while the Lebanese government must decide to implement a UN Security Council resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Israel struck Hezbollah targets and devastated a wide array of Lebanese civilian installations on Friday. Hezbollah, which wants to trade its captives for prisoners held in Israel, fired more rockets across the frontier.
Bush presses Israel
United States President George Bush telephoned Lebanon Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and assured him he was pressing Israel to ”contain the damage” to Lebanon and avoid civilian casualties, Siniora’s office said in a statement.
Siniora urged Bush to get Israel to halt its attack, agree to a ceasefire and lift its blockade.
Bush also called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah, a US official said. The Jordanian monarch flew to Cairo to discuss the flare-up with Mubarak. The US leader has previously upheld Israel’s right to self-defence, but said it should not weaken the Lebanese government.
Strong criticism of Israel came from France and the Vatican, long close to Lebanon, especially its Christian community. French President Jacques Chirac described Israeli strikes as ”completely disproportionate” and Hezbollah as ”irresponsible”.
The Vatican deplored Israel’s ”attack on a sovereign and free nation”, Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said.
The Lebanon violence is the fiercest since 1996 when Israel launched a 17-day blitz on Hezbollah strongholds in the south.
Israeli aircraft rocketed runways at Beirut’s international airport and bombed a flyover just to the south, witnesses said. The airport has been shut since runways and fuel tanks were hit on Thursday. Four planes of Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines had taken off empty for Amman shortly before the latest raids.
Air strikes
Israeli warplanes blasted the main Beirut-Damascus highway overnight, tightening an air, sea and land blockade of Lebanon, and bombed targets in Beirut’s teeming Shi’ite Muslim suburbs, killing three people and wounding 40, security sources said.
Air strikes in south Lebanon killed five more people. Their deaths brought to 66 the number of people, almost all civilians, killed in Lebanon in the past three days, police said. At least 200 people have been wounded.
A score of Hezbollah rockets struck northern Israel and one hit a house in Safed, wounding eight people. Another five people were hurt by rockets in Israel’s coastal city of Nahariya.
Israel said Hezbollah had launched 130 missiles in the previous 48 hours, killing two civilians and wounding more than 100. Black smoke billowed from two burning fuel depots at power plants south of Beirut. Air raids also hit cellphone antennas and a pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla base in eastern Lebanon.
Israel holds Lebanon responsible for the actions of Hezbollah, a Syrian- and Iranian-backed Islamist group that has members in Parliament and in the mainly anti-Syrian Cabinet.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel would not dare move against the Islamic Republic. He had warned of a ”fierce response” if Israel struck at Syria, saying it would be considered an attack on the whole Muslim world.
The European Union expressed concern that the conflict could deteriorate or spread to Syria.
Fearing a prolonged Israeli-Hezbollah confrontation, Lebanese queued for petrol and hoarded food and drink. Power rationing began and many shops and offices stayed shut.
The crisis helped drive world oil prices to record highs above $78 and shook financial markets in Israel and Lebanon. Beirut stocks have slumped nearly 14% this week. Israeli stocks have dropped more than 8% in the past three days and the shekel has lost more than 3%. — AFP, Reuters