Middle Orient

(CNN) — The Israel Defense Forces said about 70 rockets hit Israel on Saturday, projectiles fired by Hezbollah militants fighting the Jewish state.

As a carpenter labors in the sweltering noon heat to complete his melancholy task, his newly made coffins lie stacked up six high and stretch down the hospital courtyard.

Troops are already on the ground in the area and the operation is considered a widening of limited Israeli action in southern Lebanon, not a signal that a full-scale ground invasion has begun.

As families fled Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre, the regional manager of the agency Christian Aid said “the situation on the ground is grim and getting worse.”

It would be astonishing if Hizbullah and Israel were not now both reflecting on the old adage that it is easier to start a war than to stop one.

The religious differences which underpin so much modern conflict – not least that currently prevailing in the troubled Middle East – are based on ancient texts upon which time has bestowed the epithet “scripture”. The implication of this is that such texts proffer those who believe in their allegedly divine …

Your report of Thursday’s Commons debate (Downing St and Foreign Office at odds, July 21) suggested that I thought the Israeli action in Lebanon was “necessary”. In fact, as I pointed out later in the debate in response to a question from Susan Kramer, my view is “I would not …

Condoleezza Rice has described the plight of Lebanon as a part of the “birth pangs of a new Middle East” and said that Israel should ignore calls for a ceasefire.

A deathly silence prevails in southern Beirut, as Lebanese people are evacuating to escape Israeli bombs. Hezbollah has the region under tight control to prevent infiltration by Israeli agents.

The five Palestinians died when Israeli shells hit their house in Gaza City’s Shijia district on Friday morning, medics and Hamas members said.