Middle Orient

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said international law stressed the need to protect civilians.

US Marines have returned to Lebanon for the first time in nearly 23 years. A token force landed north of Beirut to evacuate Americans stranded by the Israeli bombardment.

Sporadic fighting on the ground has continued in the border region. Israeli military sources say there have been a number of casualties on their side but few details have been given.

Amid the rubble of Lebanon, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. That is the warning from aid agencies, as Israel’s air attacks on continue. Hundreds of thousands of people

The Nevada Democrat said he has been “somewhat gingerly approaching this…. No longer. There is a civil war going on in Iraq. In the last two months, more than 6,000 Iraqis have been killed.

The secretary-general blamed Hezbollah for triggering the crisis and accused it of holding Lebanon hostage with its campaign against Israel.

BEIRUT (CNN) — Israeli bombing in Lebanon during the past week has crippled the country’s economy, reversing what had promised to be a boom year, the nation’s finance minister said Thursday.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said earlier that up to 500,000 people had been forced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes that began last week after Hezbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers in cross-border raid.

Tony and Monika Esseily and their three children were winding up a vacation in Lebanon when Israeli airstrikes began July 12.

While thousands of Westerners have been bussed, flown and shipped out of Lebanon as Israel continues to bomb the country, some are struggling to get out.