The Lebanon


Destroyed homes
July 24: Lebanese citizens check their houses in a destroyed street in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

The Middle East: What happens next?

Israel withdraws unilaterally? Diplomatic settlement? Israel snared in counter-insurgency? Lebanese government falls? Israel invades Lebanon? We analyse the options.

Israel vows to keep up Lebanon campaign

· Olmert threatens 'severe measures'
· Saudi king warns of wider war
· Rice holds talks in Jerusalem and Gaza

Scale of the human crisis emerges

The people of Lebanon are facing their "hour of greatest need", the UN said yesterday in launching an emergency appeal for $150m (£81m) to help an estimated 800,000 civilians whose lives have been disrupted by Israeli bombing of Lebanon.

The relief plan would focus on providing food, water, healthcare and other essential services, Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said.

The situation in Lebanon is "very bad, and deteriorating by the day", said Mr Egeland. On Sunday he described the bombing of south Beirut as "a violation of humanitarian law".

But last night he had harsh words for Hizbullah as well, rebuking the Shi'ite group for cravenly using civilians as human shields. "Hizbullah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," Mr Egeland said.

I just don't know what to say, the world stands idly by while southern Lebanon is flatterned, using cluster grenades on civlians and blowing up ambulances.

for more indepth analyis - Israel uses cluster bombs, chemical weapons.