posted July 18, 2006 07:51 PM
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1690109.htm
Israel says Hezbollah, Iran coordinated soldier abductions
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accused Hezbollah of coordinating its abduction of two Israeli soldiers last week with Iran, enabling Tehran to divert attention away from its nuclear program. "Unfortunately this Iranian trick succeeded," Mr Olmert said in a statement.
"The G8 decision focused on Lebanon and did not deal with the Iranian issue," he also said, referring to the meeting of G8 leaders in St Petersburg.
The recent crisis erupted when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others last week in a cross-border raid.
Mr Olmert reiterated he would not negotiate with Hezbollah and said it was too early to talk about a new international force to stabilise Lebanon.
The United Nations (UN) has warned of a humanitarian "catastrophe" in Lebanon as Israel launches more deadly air attacks.
"The situation is both alarming and catastrophic. There are about 500,000 people displaced already. The situation is extreme" the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Beirut, Roberto Laurenti, said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has accused Israel of "committing massacres against Lebanese civilians and working to destroy everything that allows Lebanon to stay alive".
"The intensifying aggression in this barbaric way proves that Israel has decided to push Lebanon back 50 years," he said.
Lebanon's body count continued to mount as Israeli pressed on with its campaign to defeat fighters of Hezbollah, killing 28 people in attacks that flattened homes and hit an army barracks.
Across the border in northern Israel, a civilian was killed when a rocket hit a park in the resort of Nahariya in the latest of hundreds of rocket attacks by Hezbollah.
Israel says it has not ruled out a massive ground offensive in a bid to crush Hezbollah, which it has branded part of an "axis of terror" along with arch-enemies Tehran and Damascus and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Amid continued fears the conflict could spiral into a regional war involving Syria and Iran, the Israeli Army says it destroyed four trucks travelling from Syria with weapons and munitions destined for Hezbollah fighters in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon.
"Our planes identified and destroyed these four trucks coming from Syria that were transporting weapons and munitions destined to replenish Hezbollah's stocks in south Lebanon," a spokeswoman said, adding that the contents and destination of the trucks were based on "intelligence".
Evacuations
Helicopters, ferries and cruise liners are taking foreign nationals to safety but Lebanese civilians remained trapped in a cycle of violence that has left them in fear of each new attack and their infrastructure in tatters.
Foreign nations embarked on a massive operation to evacuate thousands of their nationals away from the bombing raids and devastation by air or sea to the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Consular officials have sent messages to Australian citizens in Lebanon telling them they were trying to organise ships "over the next few days" to get them out of the besieged country.
"Priority will be given to the sick, elderly and families with small children," an email statement sent to Australians registered with the embassy said.
It urged them to have their travel documents in hand "and be prepared to move at short notice."
Britain, which is hoping to evacuate some 5,000 of its nationals from Lebanon by the end of the week, started to pull out the first British citizens on board the destroyer HMS Gloucester.
The United States has flown 120 citizens out of Beirut on the third day of an air bridge that is to be followed by a mass evacuation by sea, amid criticism that Washington's reaction has been too slow.
The UN is evacuating all non-essential staff from the country.
As the European Union (EU) and the US prepared to send envoys to the region, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan outlined plans for an international force for Lebanon that he said should be "considerably larger" than the current 2,000-strong UN peacekeeping force.
The US State Department says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the region, while EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is also preparing for a trip.
Protests
Thousands of Iranians have gathered in a square in central Tehran for an anti-Israeli, pro-Hezbollah, demonstration.
"Death to Israel," shouted the crowd, many of whom carried posters of the Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah.
Other posters declared that Israel should be annihilated and wiped off the map and the crowd through stones and rotten tomatoes at a large Star of David, symbolising the Israeli state.
The large gathering was addressed by the speaker of the Iranian parliament who praised the Hezbollah leader for what he called "his bravery".
He pledged support from the people of Iran and promised that the Hezbollah fighters would never be disarmed.
Also, in Egypt about 400 people, mainly Islamists, demonstrated in the centre of Cairo, chanting slogans in support of Lebanese and Palestinian guerrilla groups fighting Israel.
They gathered on the front steps of the Journalists Union building, voicing their backing for the Hezbollah leader and calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Cairo.
Riot police with shields and truncheons outnumbered the protesters but did not intervene.
The demonstration, led by the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, later dispersed peacefully.
-AFP/Reuters/BBC