More than 14,500 Egyptians evacuated from Lebanon NABATIYEH: Israeli troops sealed off a key Hezbollah stronghold in fierce fighting in south Lebanon and warplanes destroyed a house in this market city Tuesday, killing six people. Militants fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa as the two-week old crisis showed no signs of letting up, despite frantic diplomatic efforts. Outlining the scope of the Israeli campaign for the first time, a senior army commander said Israel would only encircle Lebanese towns and villages near the border with Israel and did not plan a deeper push into Lebanon. The intention is to deal with the Hezbollah infrastructure that is within reach, Col. Hemi Livni, who commands Israeli troops in the western sector of southern Lebanon, told Israel Army Radio, told Israel Army Radio. That means in southern Lebanon, not going beyond that. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Israel on the second leg of a Middle East tour, maintained the Bush administration s position that a cessation in hostilities must come with conditions that make an enduring peace, saying the time has come for an urgent end to the violence hanging over the region. I have no doubt there are those who wish to strangle a democratic and sovereign Lebanon in its crib, Rice said before meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. We, of course, also urgently want to end the violence. More than 14,500 Egyptians have been repatriated since Israel s offensive in Lebanon begun almost two weeks ago, the largest community to have fled the war-ravaged country. The national airline (EgyptAir) has flown in more than 14,500 Egyptians since July 12, Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafik told public television late Monday. He said that some 13,000 Egyptians were evacuated via Damascus, while the rest were flown back to Egypt from the northern Syrian town of Aleppo or Amman. The first few days, low ticket prices were set by the national airline until the state decided to cover all costs, Shaifk added. The total number of Egyptians in Lebanon before the violence flared was believed to surpass 15,000, most of them laborers of modest background. The second largest community of foreigners to have already left Lebanon are U.S. citizens with 11,500 evacuees. Olmert welcomed Rice warmly and vowed that Israel is determined to carry on this fight against Hezbollah. He said his government will not hesitate to take severe measures against those who are aiming thousands of rockets and missiles against innocent civilians for the sole purpose of killing them. With the diplomatic threads for a solution still tangled, the violence looked likely to drag on with a new element after 14 days of bombardment: tough ground fighting as Israeli forces try to move village to village near the border, facing well-armed, determined Islamic militants who have been digging in for years. The U.S., which is pushing for the deployment of international and Lebanese troops in southern Lebanon to stop Hezbollah attacks on Israel, has angered many allies with its support of Israel and resistance to calls for an immediate cease-fire to the hostilities that began with a July 12 Hezbollah attack that killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two. At the front Tuesday, an Israeli military official said troops had surrounded Bint Jbail, a town that has symbolic importance to Hezbollah as one of the centers of resistance to the Israeli occupation 1982-2000. Israeli forces have seized some houses on the outskirts of the hilltop town since beginning the assault on Monday, but do not yet control Bint Jbail, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as a press statement had not been issued. Up to 200 Hezbollah militants are believed to be defending the town, which lies about 4 km north of the Israeli border. Hezbollah s Al-Manar TV reported Tuesday that the fighters were mounting a strong defense in the area. The resistance fighters are engaged in heroic confrontations with elite troops of the (Israeli) Golani Brigade, who are attempting to advance under heavy bombardment from the air and land, Al-Manar said. In a pre-dawn raid, Israeli warplanes destroyed two neighboring houses in Nabatiyeh, which lies 25 km north of Bint Jbail and has been heavily bombarded in the past few days. In one house, a man and his wife and their son were killed, said the couple s daughter, Shireen Hamza, who survived the strike. Three men were killed in the other house, she said. While buried under the rubble for 15 minutes, I just kept screaming, telling my parents to stay alive until help comes, she said. My father kept saying to me in a weak voice, Shireen, stay awake. Don t sleep. Security officials said seven people were killed in the blast. But Nabatiyeh Hospital received six bodies from the strike, said a doctor there, Marwan Ghandour. One of the rockets fired at the Isreaeli port city of Haifa hit a bus, another hit a house and two reportedly struck very close to a hospital, injuring at least five people, witnesses and doctors said. Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres appealed to the Lebanese people to disarm Hezbollah and make peace with Israel. Dozens of meters (yards) and hundreds of kilometers (miles) separate between us but the distance does not hide from our eyes the tough scenes from Lebanon, of your women and children fleeing these days on roads that lead to the unknown, Peres said. As soon as the war ends, you will find in us what we really are, pursuers of peace, seekers of peace, seekers of hope, Peres said. There is not any conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
