Developments, sad ones

Death toll - 423 Lebanese, 51 Israelis

Have a look at Israel's statement after the failure of the Roma Conference on responding effectively on the war:

"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world... to continue the operation," Justice Minister Haim Ramon said.
His comments came before Israeli cabinet ministers decided not to launch a large-scale ground offensive. Israel has launched fresh air raids, amid ongoing fighting in south Lebanon.

In other developments:

- Following the deaths of four UN observers in an Israeli air strike, Australia has withdrawn 12 UN peacekeepers, describing the prospect of sending an international force to Lebanon right now as a "suicide mission"

- UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres says 500,000 people have been displaced within Lebanon by the fighting

- A poll of Israelis published by Israel's Maariv daily newspaper suggests 82% back the continuing offensive and 95% say Israel's action is justified

Foreign ministers attending emergency talks on the crisis in Rome on Wednesday did not call for an immediate ceasefire, vowing instead to work with the "utmost urgency" for a sustainable truce.

Speaking on Israeli army radio, Mr Ramon - a close confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - said "everyone understands that a victory for
Hezbollah is a victory for world terror".
He said that in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops moved in.
He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there could be considered a Hezbollah supporter.
"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Mr Ramon said.
The chief of Israel's northern command, Maj Gen Udi Adam, has warned that he expects the fighting to "continue for several more weeks".
The BBC Jim Muir in Tyre says that the progress of Israeli ground troops has not been as fast as expected as they battle through the difficult terrain of southern Lebanon.

Israel suffered its worst losses in an ambush in Bint Jbeil.
But Hezbollah's ability to inflict damage appears undiminished - on Wednesday they fired some 150 rockets into Israel, more than on any other day of the conflict.
The head of political programmes at Hezbollah's TV station, al-Manar, Ibrahim Moussawi, says the organisation is determined to continue fighting.
"The Israelis have tried this before since 1982, which culminated in the year 2000 with the defeat of the Israelis and their withdrawal from south Lebanon," Mr Moussawi said.

Another 'interesting' piece of information was that an US aircraft transporting high-precision bombs did an en-route stop-over at the UK. This is another cause for protest, this time as it seems the US totally disregards the British procedures for flights carrying arms and also because it is utterly provocative. The US is sending guided-bomb units to Israel that most likely will be used to kill and wound many more innocent people in Lebanon. Is this appropriated, to arm one side of the conflict up to their teeths, while at the same time, asking for peace and moderation?
In the UK, couldn't the prime-minister "really not speak up for the simple proposition that the slaughter of innocent people in Lebanon, and the destruction of their country and the ruin of half a million lives, were wrong and should stop immediately?"