As tens of thousands of foreigners and Lebanese fled the country by air, sea and land this week, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora lashed out at Israel, saying it was “opening the gates of hell and madness” on his country.
In a BBC interview, he urged Hizbullah to release two captured Israeli soldiers, but said Israel’s response to the crisis had been disproportionate.
He also said other countries were not doing enough to help the situation in Lebanon.
The government says the conflict has displaced half a million people and aid agencies say a humanitarian crisis looms. Estimates have put the number of those waiting to escape the Israeli assault at up to 57 000 foreign and dual nationals.
And it appears that neither Hizbullah nor Israel were listening to pleas from the Lebanese government for an immediate ceasefire in a war that by 5pm on Thursday had killed 327 people in Lebanon and 29 in Israel.
Israel believes its bombing has destroyed half Hizbullah’s military capability, Israel Radio quoted Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying. The former defence minister and chief of staff said Israeli forces “must be allowed to finish the job”.
An international flotilla of warships, cruise vessels and ferries shuttled between ports in Lebanon towards Cyprus, 160km away, and Turkey.
Convoys of buses headed on the perilous journey east to Syria, while dozens of planes flew in and out of airports in Cyprus, Syria and Turkey.
The Israeli army, which has been waging a massive air, sea and ground offensive against Lebanon for nine days, has said its troops are regularly crossing the border to conduct “pinpoint” raids against Hizbullah posts.
General Alon Friedman told army radio that troops were “operating to destroy Hizbullah infrastructure and underground bunkers in particular”.
He confirmed that troops were concentrated on the northern border, which he said would be sufficient to launch a large-scale ground operation if necessary.
Cabinet secretary Israel Maimon told public radio that the army was prepared to launch such an operation, but not at the moment. Hizbullah said in a statement that its mujahedin had destroyed two tanks in the ongoing fighting.
“In vain, Zionist enemy soldiers try to advance toward Lebanese territory to achieve military victories, and again Hizbullah confronts them and proves to them that they are an army without soldiers.”
Israel has been sending troops into Lebanon since it launched the assault in a bid to crush the Lebanese Shi’ite Hizbullah militia following the capture of two soldiers on Wednesday of last week.
“If all goes well … we hope by this Friday we would have moved in excess of 6 000 from Lebanon,” Brigadier General Carl Jensen, the United States evacuation task force commander, told reporters.
A further 500 were awaiting evacuation from the port of Dbayieh just north of Beirut, after US marines secured the sector and a US helicopter carrier and escort warship sat offshore.
There was anger and frustration as hundreds of evacuees were being treated inside while 300 more waited in the fierce heat outside hastily erected barbed wire barriers.
“Nobody’s talking, saying anything to us. There’s more people coming by the minute and we’re all stuck out here,” said Marlene Awad, from Washington, who had been on vacation.
Her seven-year-old daughter Sabine sat on the baking road clutching a doll and crying. Inside a US marine repeated through a loudspeaker: “We are here to help you.”
More than 1 000 Britons had already been ferried on Wednesday from Lebanon to Cyprus on board two other warships, but a Defence Ministry spokesperson said HMS Bulwark would carry more than the two of them put together.
The spokesperson said five planes were due to land in Cyprus later on Thursday to fly the evacuees back to Britain. London has said it intends to evacuate 5 000 people by the end of the week, dozens of whom have already returned.
n Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was due to meet with the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, on Thursday night amid growing rifts between US and worldwide attempts to deal with the war in Lebanon.
With Security Council members examining French-backed resolution plans calling for a ceasefire and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force, the US Congress was expected to pass a resolution stating Washington’s unwavering support for Israel and condemning Lebanon. Rice is expected to embark on a round of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East from Saturday.