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Lebanon Fighting Continues as Diplomats Try to Stem Violence

By Sonja Pace
Jerusalem
28 July 2006

Israeli artillery renewed shelling villages in southern Lebanon Friday after warplanes carried out air strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon overnight. The fighting is entering its third week, and there is little indication that diplomacy is about to bring it to a quick end.

Plumes of smoke rise from behind the hills just inside the Lebanese border - a sign of renewed Israeli artillery barrages. The military says its warplanes struck over 100 Hezbollah targets overnight.

Israel's environment minister, Gideon Ezra, says there is no choice but to continue.

"We will hit Hezbollah, as they mean to hit us," says Ezra, adding - "after we've done that, I hope we will have a different situation."

Fears the fighting will drag on, amid rising casualties and a growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon have increased calls for a diplomatic solution. The United States insists, no calls for an immediate ceasefire, without a sustainable peace plan. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday, she will return to the Middle East, when the time is right.