Summary here and here.

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The UN estimates that 800,000 Lebanese have been displaced, a huge number for a country of 3.5 million.

“The scale of the problem is of an unbelievable proportion,” said Sami Haddad, the Lebanese minister of economy.

“We have between 20% and 25% of our population that is turned into refugees. What government can cope with that?”

…with the vast scale of the destruction, even if the war stopped now the country would still face a housing shortage in the light of the 100,000 to 200,000 people whose homes have been levelled.

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An old man in a white crocheted cap lay on a mat under a ceiling hung with drying tobacco leaves. He needed medicine but his family had no car and could not afford the $800 taxi fare to Beirut.

Many people were still reeling from the shock of losing loved ones in the violence. Anaya Bezzeh, a woman in her 40s, sat crumpled on a plastic lawn chair in the yard of the Tyre Rest House - a hotel that has been descended on by refugees. Her husband had died, and she escaped with her children two days ago from Bint Jbeil, the town of the heaviest fighting.

In Rmeish, people milled around and waited. Tufik Deeb, a 77-year-old Rmeish resident, said he had been surviving on yoghurt and rice for more than a week.

In the centre of town, a family with four small children waited inside an old Mercedes.

They wanted to join the convoy that was leaving to Tyre, but they had no petrol. Still, they sat patiently in the heat of the afternoon, hoping someone would give them the means to reach some sort of safety. Article

37 who have forever lost all promise, whether Rice’s “false promise” or any other.

Thirty-seven children were among the dead in the air raid on the southern village of Qana, the bloodiest single attack in Israel’s nearly three week war with the Lebanese guerrilla group.

The attack prompted Beirut’s government to call off scheduled talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, telling her she was unwelcome before a ceasefire was in place. U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Jerusalem Israel’s decision to suspend the aerial bombardment was to allow for an investigation into the Qana attack.

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A Lebanese foreign ministry official told an urgent session of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that more than 60 people were killed. But police in Lebanon put the death toll at 54. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council to condemn the attack and call for an immediate end to hostilities. “I am deeply dismayed that my earlier calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities were not heeded,” Annan said.

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Rice, who said she had called off her trip to Beirut, expressed her sadness by the Qana raid, but stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Her mediation drive in tatters, she will leave Israel for Washington on Monday to work on a U.N. resolution that could achieve what the White House called a “sustainable” ceasefire that changes the pre-war status quo. Article

Related, from the Red Cross:

Issuing advance warning to the civilian population of impending attacks in no way relieves a warring party of its obligations under the rules and principles of international humanitarian law. In particular, the principles of distinction and proportionality must be respected at all times. Article

Cost of war: fouling the Mediterranean coast.

Lebanon is facing an environmental crisis after an Israeli air strike on the Jiyeh power station, about 20km south of Beirut caused 10,000 tonnes of oil to spill into the Mediterranean sea.

The air strikes on 13 and 15 July hit the power station’s fuel tanks and the leaking oil was pushed north by winds, and a thick sludge now coats much of the Lebanese coastline. At least 80km of the 200km coastline is affected.

Officials at Lebanon’s environment ministry say that the clean-up operation will take at least a year to complete and at an estimated cost of more than US $ 130 million.

“It is about 10,000 tonnes of oil, but because of the security situation we cannot go into the sea to see what the real situation is,” said a spokeswoman at the ministry, who requested anonymity.

There are fears that more oil could spill into the sea due to a fire at the facility that began on Thursday and now threatens a undamaged tank that contains 15,000 tonnes of oil.

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Officials have warned people who live near the sea to keep their windows closed and stay away from the oil as the fumes can cause skin and breathing problems.v

The spill will also threaten Lebanon’s marine life and endangered species such as the Green Turtle and the Blue Fin Tuna. Article

More follow-up on the controversy of U.S. arm twisting in the U.K.

Bombs destined to be used by Israel are being flown via Scotland only because the Irish government refused to allow them to land on its soil.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal that after the conflict in Lebanon began three weeks ago, Ireland turned down a United States request for planes carrying 600lb so-called bunker busters to refuel at Shannon airport in Co Clare.

As a result, cargo planes carrying the bombs, which the Israeli army is using in its offensive against the Hezbollah, are being flown via Prestwick airport in Ayrshire.

The use of Prestwick triggered a furious diplomatic row last week after it emerged that the US had broken aviation rules by failing to notify Britain about the flights.

That row is intensifying this weekend as two further American planes carrying ‘hazardous’ material to Tel Aviv land at the airport.

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The latest revelations are set to crush hopes among British diplomats that the row over Prestwick would die down following President George Bush’s apology to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday.

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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the fact that more flights were now landing in Scotland was “adding insult to injury”.

He said: “What price the president’s apology now? Article