The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Latest developments

Latest death toll is 362 (most civilians) in Lebanon, 34 (most soldiers) in Israel. From Reuters:

July 22 (Reuters) - Here are developments in the Middle East on the 11th day of Israel's bombardment of Lebanon.

* Israeli soldiers oust Hizbollah guerrillas from hilltop village of Maroun al-Ras, a stronghold just inside Lebanon, where six Israeli commandos have been killed this week.

* Israel says no full-scale invasion set for now.

* More than 40 rockets fired by Hizbollah hit towns across northern Israel, injuring 16 people, damaging three houses and setting cars ablaze.


* Fighting has now killed 354 Lebanese, most of them civilians. Nineteen Israeli soldiers and 15 civilians have died.

* Israel urges residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon to leave by 4 p.m. (1300 GMT). Thousands of Lebanese civilians flee north.

* Israeli air raids strike transmission stations used by several Lebanese television channels and a mobile telephone mast in Christian areas north of Beirut.

* Ships and aircraft scoop more exhausted people fleeing fighting in Lebanon to safety in Cyprus in a mass international effort that has so far evacuated more than 25,000 people.

* Thousands of demonstrators march through London and hundreds gather in Amsterdam and Chicago to protest against Israeli attacks and the refusal of the United States and Britain to condemn them.

* U.N. emergency relief coordinator says at least $100 million is urgently needed to help avert a humanitarian disaster in Lebanon over the coming months.

* Russia proposes urgent meeting of major power and regional foreign ministers in Beirut or Rome.

* EU Commission calls on members to send medicines, shelter materials, fire-fighting equipment and other supplies to Lebanon.

* France calls for immediate cessation of hostilities.

* U.S. President George W. Bush says in a radio address that "resolving the crisis demands confronting the terrorist group that launched the attacks and the nations that support it."

* Bush, at his ranch in Texas, telephones Turkey's prime minister to discuss how to help the Lebanese people.

* U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice goes to Middle East on Sunday, resists international pressure for immediate cease-fire.

* Bush and Rice to "strategize" about a diplomatic solution with Saudi officials at the White House on Sunday.

* Italy to host international conference on Wednesday on possible cease-fire and deployment of foreign troops on Lebanese border. Rice to attend, but not Iran, Syria, Israel.