Rehab Saad recounts a diary of three weeks of Israeli aggression on Lebanon and the diplomatic missions to stop the war Wednesday 12 July 2006 : Two Israeli sergeants were captured by Hizbullah and eight soldiers were killed. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the capture of soliders as "an act of war" and orders his forces to recover the captured troops in Israel's first ground offensive since the withdrawal in 2000. Thursday 13 July: Israeli jets bomb the runways of Beirut's international airport causing its closure and diversion of flights to Cyprus. Missiles are fired at Hizbullah targets in Beirut's southern suburbs and at the group's Al-Manar television station. At least 50 civilians are killed in attacks across the country. Two Israelis are killed as Hizbullah fires more than 100 rockets at towns across northern Israel, including the country's third- largest city, Haifa, about 35km from the border. Russia, the EU, Iran and some Arab states condemn the attacks but the US president, George Bush, says Tel Aviv has the right to defend itself. France, Russia and the EU are all critical of a "disproportionate" use of force. Friday 14 July: Israeli air strikes killed three civilians and wounded 55 more. Further strikes hit Beirut's international airport, bridges, roads and fuel depots. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah promised "open war" against Israel. An Israeli navy vessel was destroyed after it was hit by a Hizbullah missile. An emergency call meeting, the UN Security Council calls for an end to the Israeli operation, saying it is causing the death of innocent civilians. Saturday 15 July: In Marwaheen, a border village in south Lebanon, Israeli warplanes targeted a truck on the road to Tyre carrying evacuees-mainly women, children and elderly-from the village killing all 21 of them. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the Middle East peace process is dead and called on the UN Security Council to tackle the crisis. Lebanon's PM said his country is a "disaster zone" and called for international help. Sunday 16 July: Israeli air raids on a residential area near Jabl Amel Hospital killed at least 23 people including 16 in the city of Tyre. In Aytaroun Village, 55kilometres south of Beirut, 11 people were killed- seven of them were Canadians of Lebanese origin and three were wounded when an Israeli raid targeted a two-storey house. Hizbolluh rockets killed eight Israelis in the coastal city of Haifa in the biggest attack on Israel since the fighting started. Leaders of the G8 nations meeting in St Petersburg blamed extremist forces for the crisis, but call on Israel to end military operations. Monday 17 July: Ten people were reportedly killed driving across a bridge south of Beirut as Israeli missiles strike. Israel extended its air strikes to the north, killing at least 15 people in an around Tripoli, Lebanon's second- largest city. Hizbullah continued to fire rockets into Israel. One hit a block of flats in Haifa, injuring at least four people. Tuesday 18 July: Eleven Lebanese soldiers died under air attack in the east of Beirut, while six bodies were pulled from the rubble of a building in the town of Aytaroun. Israeli raids hit at a church in Rashia injuring 10 worshippers. Also in Tyre six people were killed in a raid which targeted Al-Qudsi village. In Qana four were killed and scores wounded in an Israeli strike. Hizbollah rockets continued to target the Israeli port city of Haifa, although there were no reports of injuries. The UN warned of a humanitarian disaster as thousands of Lebanese fled their homes. Wednesday 19 July: At least 12 Lebanese, including several children, were killed and 30 wounded in an Israeli air strike that destroyed houses in the southern village of Srifa. And 37 other civilians were killed in air strikes that hammered other parts of south and east Lebanon. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora appealed for an immediate end to the Israeli attacks on his country. After meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said he had seen the suffering of Lebanese civilians and it is nothing to do with the battle against Hizbullah - it was "disproportionate". Thursday 20 July: Ground battles between the Israeli forces and Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah announced it had bombarded Israel's northern military command headquarters as well as the towns of Safad, Tiberias, and Carmel. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and ten were injured in heavy fighting in the South. They also announced the destruction of two Israeli tanks. The death toll reached at least 306 people in Lebanon and 31 in Israel. Friday 21 July: Israel masses soldiers and tanks on the Lebanese border, called up thousands of reserves, drops leaflets on parts of southern Lebanon urging residents to leave. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the offensive is now no longer against Hizbullah, but against Lebanon. Nasrallah denounced the Arab stance from the war and said that Israel was waging an attack under "an Arab cover". Saturday 22 July: The Israeli army continued ground incursions into southern Lebanon. It said it had gained control of the village of Maroun Al-Ras after several days of fighting and warned civilians in 14 specific villages to leave. Israel targeted Lebanese phone and television masts in air strikes, while Hizbullah fired dozens of rockets into Israel. The death toll rose to at least 350 Lebanese and 34 Israelis. About 750,000 Lebanese were displaced. Sunday 23 July: Israeli strikes hit southern Beirut, the Bekaa valley, Tyre, and - for the first time - Sidon, a southern port city full of refugees from the surrounding countryside. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said Israel would agree to the proposed deployment of a multi-national force in southern Lebanon and suggested it should be led by Nato. Envoys from France and Britain also held talks in Israel to look for ways to resolve the crisis. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected in the region. Monday 24 July : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Middle East, making a stop in Beirut for talks with Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. A fierce fighting was taking place in southern Lebanon around Bint Jbeil. An Israeli helicopter crashed in northern Israel, with two pilots killed. Air strikes continued on both sides. Tuesday 25 July: Israel's Defence Minister Amir Peretz said Israel will keep control over an area in southern Lebanon until a force of international peacekeepers is deployed. Israel claims to have captured the town of Bint Jbeil. Hizbullah continued to fire Katyusha rockets and Israel resumed air raids on Beirut. Wednesday 26 July: An international meeting started at Rome. EU and Arab states, together with the US and Russia, agreed at the talks in Rome to work towards a ceasefire with "utmost urgency", but stopped short of calling for an immediate truce. The death of four UN observes after the Israeli destruction of a two-story UN building in southern Lebanon. Israel described the event as a "tragic mistake". Nine Israeli soldiers were killed and 22 injured in fierce fighting around the town of Bint Jbeil. It is the biggest Israeli loss of life since the conflict began. Thursday 27 July: The Israeli security cabinet decided to call up more military reserves to refresh troops fighting in southern Lebanon but ruled out widening the military offensive. More rockets were fired into northern Israel by Hizbullah despite warnings from the Israeli army that any village from which rockets are launched will be totally destroyed. Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri warned Al-Qaeda will respond to attacks on Muslims in Lebanon and Gaza. Friday 28 July: After talks in Washington with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush said the US and UK wanted to achieve a "lasting peace" in the region, but neither leader called for an immediate ceasefire. The UN called for a 72-hour truce in the conflict zone to allow humanitarian aid in and to get casualties out. Israel carried out dozens of fresh strikes on Lebanon. Lebanese officials said at least 12 people are killed. Hizbullah fired a barrage of more than 100 rockets into northern Israel. It said it had made its deepest strike into the country so far with a new long-range rocket called the Khaibar-1. Two mortar rounds stroke a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians escaping the violence in southern Lebanon, wounding two people travelling in a German TV car. The UN announced plans to relocate unarmed observers from their post along the Israeli border to positions manned by UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force. Saturday 29 July: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to the region. In more raids, a Lebanese mother and her five children were killed in a new wave of Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon, Lebanese medics said. Israeli forces withdrew from the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil which they had been trying to take for some days and where they sustained their heaviest one-day losses since the campaign began. A separate Israeli strike wounded two UN monitors in their observation post, the UN said, days after four were killed. The UN said children, the elderly and disabled people had been left stranded and supplies were "running out very, very fast" in southern Lebanon and called for a three-day truce to let aid in. Sunday 30 July: An Israeli air strike killed more than 54 Lebanese civilians, at least 34 of them children, in the southern village of Qana in the bloodiest single attack of the conflict. At an emergency session of the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply disturbed" that previous calls for a ceasefire had gone unheeded. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora cancelled talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beirut. Some 5,000 protesters gathered in downtown Beirut after the Qana attack, at one point attacking a UN building and burning American flags. But Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon, killing five people - including two children - in the village of Yaroun. Monday 31 July: Israel called a 48-hour halt to air strikes in southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the civilian deaths in Qana to go ahead - although it continued strikes in the border zone. Tuesday 1 August : Israeli forces waged fierce clashes with Hizbullah fighters and mobilized 20,000 soldiers in southern Lebanon. Three Israeli soldiers are killed and 25 injured in clashes in the border village of Ait al-Shaab. European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" in Lebanon, to be followed by a "sustainable ceasefire".
