Eurasia Press & News
Rice pitched the plan Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, then traveled to the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Rice’s diplomatic moves came on the 14th day of the conflict sparked by Lebanon-based Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes continued to pound Lebanese cities, while Hezbollah rockets rained down on northern Israel.
Since July 12, at least 392 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and as many as 1,383 wounded in Lebanon, Lebanese security officials said Tuesday.
At least 41 Israelis have died, including 19 civilians, and at least 388 have been wounded, Israeli officials said.
The plan proposed by Rice initially would involve putting an international force of up to 10,000 Turkish and Egyptian troops under a NATO or U.N. commander into southern Lebanon following a cease-fire, the political sources say.
Another international force of up to 30,000 troops then would help the Lebanese government regain control over the region, the sources said.
Rice presented the plan Monday to Lebanese officials, the sources said, and will show it to European foreign ministers Wednesday in Rome, Italy.
U.S. and diplomatic sources said Lebanese officials are leaking details of the proposal because they are opposed to many of them.
The sources describe the plan as an outline or working proposal and note no one has agreed to it. They also said there are many hurdles to overcome before it could be implemented.
No letup in the fighting
An overnight Israeli airstrike hit a house in the village of Nabatiye, killing seven people, Lebanese security sources said.
The IDF only said its military operations have hit dozens of militants during ongoing fighting in Bint Jbeil, a town it dubbed Hezbollah’s “terror capital.”
Israel claimed Tuesday it had gained complete control of Bint Jbeil, according to Israel Defense Forces Gen. Gal Hirsch, who commands the Galilee division. The IDF said it had killed between 20 and 30 Hezbollah fighters in that area in the past 24 hours.
In Israel, a Katyusha rocket killed a 15-year-old girl Tuesday in the village of Meghar in Galilee, Israeli police and medical service officials said.
At least 18 people were injured in the port city of Haifa and one man died of a heart attack after a rocket struck near his home, officials said.
Huge explosions reverberated Tuesday afternoon through the southern suburbs of Beirut — a Hezbollah stronghold — sending smoke billowing through high-rise buildings.
Several Israeli strikes hit the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre. There was no official word yet on casualties.
