Israeli Jets press Raids on LebanonIsrael has been dropping leaflets on southern Lebanon that urge residents to move north of the Litani River, which runs east to west in a line about 15 miles north of the Israeli border. Israel said it had issued the warning in an effort to reduce civilian casualties.
Anwar Abu Saleh, a Lebanese tailor in Tyre, said he had sent his wife and children to Beirut. He was shivering with fear outside his building, just around the corner from a building that was bombed Thursday.
“I stayed, thinking maybe things would get better, maybe this would end soon,” he said. “But my kids now want me and they don't have any more money. I have to get out of here.”
The United Nations and aid groups are seeking to organize an evacuation of the area, but say they need to coordinate their efforts with the Israelis. French ships will be allowed to dock in Tyre to deliver supplies, Israel radio reported.
The coast road from Beirut to Khalde bombed by an Israeli air strike July 20, 2006. The Israel air strikes have destroyed much of the Lebanese infrastructure and transport network.
Precarious conditions in mountain shelters for fleeing LebaneseBEIRUT – Conditions for fleeing Lebanese seeking refuge in the mountain areas north of Beirut are precarious, with relief supplies needed urgently to cope with the growing numbers of displaced, says the top UN refugee agency official in Lebanon. The problem is getting those supplies into the country.
"The tragedy is that the supplies are there in Syria. The question now is how to get them in? If the overland route is out for the time being, as it seems, we'll have to move supplies in from Cyprus," said UNHCR's Geneva-based regional director Ekber Menemencioglu on Sunday.
"At the schools, people are traumatised and anxious. The conditions are very precarious," said UNHCR's top official in the country, Arafat Jamal, after a visit to the area on Saturday. "There's a lot of overcrowding, with people sleeping three families to a room and tremendous pressure on the sanitation facilities," he added.
Meanwhile in Syria, there is a constant stream of displaced Lebanese flowing across the border, with 20 cars arriving every five minutes at one border crossing point. An estimated 12,000 people are arriving daily. UNHCR has mobile border monitoring teams at the most active border points of Al Aridha and Daboussia.
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