Israeli warplanes strike targets deep in Lebanon

Two residents dropped dead on the road out, one of malnutrition, the other of heart failure.

Some survivors described living on a piece of candy a day and dirty water as the fighting raged.

“All the time I thought of death,” said Rimah Bazzi, an American visiting from Dearborn, Mich., who spent weeks hiding with her three children and mother in the house of a local doctor.

Olmert: ‘There will be no cease-fire’
The lull was felt across northern Israel, too: In the town of Nahariya, residents who had been hiding in shelters for the better part of three weeks began emerging. Supermarkets were fuller than before and more people were in the streets, walking along the beach and shopping.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the civilian deaths in the strike on Qana.

“I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for all deaths of children or women in Qana,” he said. “We did not search them out. ... They were not our enemies and we did not look for them.”

But he insisted Israel had no choice but to fight.

“There is no cease-fire, there will be no cease-fire,” he said. “We are determined to succeed in this struggle. We will not give up on our goal to live a life free of terror.”

The Israeli onslaught was sparked when Hezbollah snatched two soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid July 12.

Near the fighting, grass fires set by shelling blazed into the night sky from the hills outside the Lebanese border town of Marjayoun. U.N. peacekeepers struggled to get trucks full of aid supplies across the Litani River as artillery pounded only a few hills away.

Bush: Hezbollah provoked attacks
President Bush resisted calls for an immediate halt to fighting, underlining that any peace deal must ensure that Hezbollah is crippled. He said Iran and Syria must stop backing the Shiite militant group with money and weapons.

“As we work with friends and allies, it’s important to remember this crisis began with Hezbollah’s unprovoked attacks against Israel. Israel is exercising its right to defend itself,” Bush said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the day said she expected a U.N. resolution for a cease-fire within a week. But as she headed to Washington after a visit to Jerusalem derailed by the Qana strike, she struck a more pessimistic tone.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” she told reporters. “You have to get all the work done, you have to get it done urgently.”

The central focus for a peace deal has been the deployment of a U.N.-mandated international force in southern Lebanon to ensure guerrillas do not attack Israel. But details of the force still must be worked out. With talks continuing, the U.N. postponed a Monday gathering meant to sound out contributions to a force.

Death toll increases
At least 524 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began, according to the Health Ministry. Fifty-one Israelis have died, including 33 soldiers and 18 civilians who died in rocket attacks.

After Rice’s intense diplomatic mission in the Mideast, efforts to put together a peace package now turned to the United Nations.

She said the U.S. will work to achieve a U.N. resolution on three fronts: the precise language of the U.N. resolution, working with Lebanon and Israel on the details of tough political questions and an agreement that leaves no ambiguity in the international force’s role and operations.

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Iraq says Iranian troops left disputed oil well Israeli leaders condemn mosque attack Top Iranian dissident cleric dies at 87 Iraqi troops in standoff with Iran Iran admits prisoners were beaten to death NBC: U.S. fired on al-Qaida targets in Yemen Mom of US hiker in Iran asks for 3 to be freed Newsweek: Is Iran playing games with jailed hikers? Pentagon: Insurgents intercepted spy videos Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: