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Also, here's an update on the evacuation: Notable quotable: > "I don't think it would be helpful to speculate any further in terms=20 > of going ashore, or future operations that may involve or may not=20 > involve the use of amphibious Marines ashore," Walsh said. =2E U.S. ramps up Lebanon evacuation plans http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060718/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_mideast_evacuati= on By PAULINE JELINEK 17 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Worried about possible attacks on its ships, the U.S. Navy=20 was publicly vague about details as it stepped up its efforts to=20 evacuate Americans from Israeli-Hezbollah fighting. =2E.... =2E.... Vice Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the top U.S. Naval officer in the Mideast,=20 said nine Navy ships were en route to the area and officials had=20 arranged for a second commercial ship to dock in Beirut. "You will see a dramatic ramp-up tomorrow," promised Maura Harty,=20 assistant secretary of state for consular affairs. Asked at a Pentagon press conference about the possibility of Hezbollah=20 attacks on the operation, Walsh said: "I'm concerned about attacks on=20 ships =E2=80=94 you bet." <...> United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah=20 http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1823817,00.html?gusrc=3Drss Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Patrick Wintour Wednesday July 19, 2006 The Guardian The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on=20 Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire=20 in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources. The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an=20 immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the UN security council, the = G8 summit in St Petersburg and the European foreign ministers' meeting=20 in Brussels. "It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They=20 [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for=20 another week," a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic=20 sources said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that = a prolonged conflict could spin out of control. US strategy in allowing Israel this freedom for a limited period has=20 several objectives, one of which is delivering a slap to Iran and Syria, = who Washington claims are directing Hizbullah and Hamas militants from=20 behind the scenes. George Bush last night said that he suspected Syria was trying to=20 reassert its influence in Lebanon. Speaking in Washington, he said:=20 "It's in our interest for Syria to stay out of Lebanon and for this=20 government in Lebanon to succeed and survive. The root cause of the=20 problem is Hizbullah and that problem needs to be addressed." Tony Blair yesterday swung behind the US position that Israel need not=20 end the bombing until Hizbullah hands over captured prisoners and ends=20 its rocket attacks. During a Commons statement, he resisted backbench=20 demands that he call for a ceasefire. Echoing the US position, he told MPs: "Of course we all want violence to = stop and stop immediately, but we recognise the only realistic way to=20 achieve such a ceasefire is to address the underlying reasons why this=20 violence has broken out." He also indicated it might take many months to agree the terms of a UN=20 stabilisation force on the Lebanese border. After Mr Blair spoke, British officials privately acknowledged the US=20 had given Israel a green light to continue bombing Lebanon until it=20 believes Hizbullah's infrastructure has been destroyed. Washington's hands-off approach was underlined yesterday when it was=20 confirmed that Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is delaying=20 a visit to the region until she has met a special UN team. She is=20 expected in the region on Friday, according to Dan Gillerman, Israel's=20 ambassador to the UN. The US is publicly denying any role in setting a timeframe for Israeli=20 strikes. When asked whether the US was holding back diplomatically, Tony = Snow, the White House's press spokesman, said yesterday: "No, no; the=20 insinuation there is that there is active military planning,=20 collaboration or collusion, between the United States and Israel - and=20 there isn't ... the US has been in the lead of the diplomatic efforts,=20 issuing repeated calls for restrain,t but at the same time putting=20 together an international consensus. You've got to remember who was=20 responsible for this: Hizbullah ... It would be misleading to say the=20 United States hasn't been engaged. We've been deeply engaged." Steven Cook, a specialist in US-Middle East policy at the=20 Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, said: "It's abundantly=20 clear [that US policy is] to give the Israelis the opportunity to strike = a blow at Hizbullah ... "They have global reach, and prior to 9/11 they killed more Americans=20 than any other group. But the Israelis are overplaying their hand." Israel is already laying the ground for negotiations. "We are beginning=20 a diplomatic process alongside the military operation that will=20 continue," said Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, yesterday. "The=20 diplomatic process is not meant to shorten the window of time of the=20 army's operation, but rather is meant to be an extension of it and to=20 prevent a need for future military operations," she added. Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy army chief, said the offensive could=20 end within a few weeks, adding that Israel needed time to complete=20 "clear goals". Israeli officials said fighting could begin to wind down=20 after the weekend, if Hizbullah stops firing rockets. A peace formula is also beginning to emerge: it includes an=20 understanding on a future prisoner exchange, a deployment of the=20 Lebanese army up to the Israeli border, a Hizbullah pullback, and the=20 beefing up of an international monitoring force. For the first time, Ms=20 Livni suggested Israel might accept such a force on a temporary basis. There were signs of differences of emphasis between the Foreign Office=20 and Downing Street over the conflict. Kim Howells, a Foreign Office minister, explicitly called for the US to=20 rein in Israel. "I very much hope the Americans will be putting pressure = on the Israelis to stop as quickly as possible." he told the BBC. "We=20 understand the pressure the Israeli government is under, but we call on=20 them to look very carefully at the pressure ordinary people are under in = southern Lebanon and other parts of Lebanon too ... We want to stop this = as quickly as possible". Israeli airstrikes killed 31 yesterday, including a family of nine in=20 Aitaroun. More than 230 civilians in Lebanon have been killed in the=20 past week. An Israeli man was killed by a Hizbullah rocket in Nahariya in northern=20 Israel, bringing the total of Israeli civilian deaths to 13. The army=20 said 50 missiles were fired yesterday at northern Israel, injuring at=20 least 14 people. Flashpoints =C2=B7 31 Lebanese killed in Israeli air raids. Nine members of one famil= y=20 were killed and four wounded in a strike on their house in the village=20 of Aitaroun. Five were killed in other strikes in the south and two in=20 the Bekaa Valley. An attack on a Lebanese army barracks east of Beirut=20 killed 11 soldiers and wounded 30. A truck carrying medical supplies was = hit and its driver killed on the Beirut-Damascus highway. Hizbullah says = one of its fighters was killed. =C2=B7 One man killed as he was walking to a bomb shelter in Nahariya,=20 northern Israel. The army said Hizbullah fired 50 missiles, hitting the=20 port and railway depot at Haifa, as well as the towns of Safed, Acre and = Kiryat Shmona. =C2=B7 Hundreds evacuated from Beirut in helicopters and boats. HMS=20 Gloucester arrives to start evacuation of Britons. The Orient Queen, a=20 cruise ship capable of carrying 750, sets out from Cyprus, escorted by a = US destroyer. #33#
