Lebanon barracks hit; Hezbollah fires on Israeli town
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- At least 11 people died in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday on Lebanese army barracks, while one Israeli was killed in a barrage of Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel, sources said.
The cross-border violence entered its seventh day as Israel continued to target Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and the militant group peppered northern Israel with rockets. Hezbollah has fired 750 rockets into the area since Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a cease-fire "when conditions are conducive to do so" after a meeting Tuesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abdul Gheit.
"We all want a cessation of violence; we all want the protection of civilians," Rice said.
"We have to make certain that anything we do is going to be of lasting value. The Middle East has been through too many spasms of violence. We have to deal with underlying conditions so we can create sustainable conditions for political progress there."
President Bush has resisted calling for a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel. The United States seeks the disarming of the militant group under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.
In other diplomatic moves, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with a U.N. delegation headed by special envoy Vijay Nambiar in Jerusalem. (Full story)
The death toll in northern Israel stands at 25, including 13 civilians, since fighting broke out last Wednesday.
Lebanese internal security forces said Tuesday that 183 people have been killed and 456 wounded in the country since the start of hostilities. There was no breakdown between civilians and military personnel.
Rocket kills 1 Israeli
A dozen Hezbollah rockets rained down Tuesday in the Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, with one of them landing directly on a house and killing a person, Israeli medical sources said. (Watch a rocket attack's aftermath in Israel -- 2:53)
"I was near the bomb shelter," eyewitness Eli Dayari told Israeli TV, according to The Associated Press.
"There was a humongous boom, and I saw it was two meters next to my house, really two meters. People are panicking and the house was on fire."
Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, experienced another day of shelling as well. Air raid sirens wailed as four explosions were heard Tuesday afternoon, and people on the streets ran for cover. Haifa police said there were no reports of casualties.
Several people were wounded Tuesday when rockets also struck Safed and Hatzor, medical sources said. (Watch why new rockets pose a greater threat -- 1:36)
Rockets hit two other northern Israeli towns, but no casualties were reported, medical sources said.
Lebanese soldiers die in strike
The Lebanese army barracks east of Beirut were one of several targets that Israeli airstrikes hit early Tuesday.
The deaths of the 11 soldiers there came a day after six Lebanese troops were killed in a similar strike on a post in Abdeh, north of Beirut.
The Israeli air force also hit two trucks in the coastal town of Jbeil -- also known as Byblos -- north of the capital, Lebanese police said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
In Beirut, debris from the Israeli raids littered mostly deserted streets, Reuters reported. Broken glass, water tanks and satellite dishes lay on the ground, and water from broken pipes filled potholes in roads, Reuters said.
Buildings left standing were blackened from fires, the news service reported. Stray cats sniffed around a damaged sandwich stall for food. Carpets and rugs were scattered in front of a ruined shop, according to Reuters.
The Israeli military said it conducted about 50 airstrikes Monday in Lebanon, including one on a truck that the IDF said carried missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
Other targets included Hezbollah's headquarters in southern Beirut, a warehouse reportedly used to store weapons, and roads and bridges in southern Lebanon.
The IDF released video Tuesday showing rockets striking the truck and other footage of Hezbollah missile sites being hit.
Evacuations under way
In war-ravaged Lebanon, the evacuation of Westerners began to pick up steam Tuesday as foreign governments moved to get their citizens to safety by land, sea and air.
Hundreds of Westerners have piled on to cruise ships, but tens of thousands remain stranded in Beirut. (Full story)
The U.S. Navy's Iwo Jima expeditionary group is heading to the Mediterranean from the Red Sea to help with the evacuations, Pentagon officials said.
The crisis escalated last week when Israel launched an extensive bombing campaign against Hezbollah after the Shiite Muslim militia abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid into northern Israel.
Hezbollah has demanded that Israel exchange Lebanese prisoners in its jails for the captured soldiers, but Israel has rejected calls for a prisoner exchange.
Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, again called for the unconditional return of the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah as well as a third one held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
"It is our moral obligation as human beings, as Israelis, to demand and ensure the immediate and unconditional release of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers," Livni said.
CNN's Avivit Dalgoshen, Paula Hancocks and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
O mapa assinala a região aproximada onde ocorreram os principais incidentes que deram origem ao conflito.
 
 
Uma semana se passou desde que   Israel respondeu a um ataque do Hizbollah na fronteira  com o Líbano. Nenhum final imediato para o conflito está à vista. Os israelenses, quer seja pelo ar,  mar ou terra investem  pesado contra alvos estratégicos no Líbano. O Hizbollah por  sua vez ataca com mísseis e foguetes contra a região norte de Israel.

O Primeiro Ministro libanês  Fouad Siniora condena os ataques de Israel e diz que eles estão "abrindo as portas de inferno e da loucura". Ele reiterou a posição do governo libanês:  clamou para   o Hizbollah libertar os soldados israelenses, e pediu para que Israel cesse os ataques, os quais chamou de "desproporcionais". 
 
Porém, um general israelense disse que a ofensiva pode continuar ainda durante muitas semanas. O Primeiro Ministro de Israel  Ehud Olmert alegou que os seqüestradores planejavam desviar a atenção do programa nuclear do Irão.

A população civil do Líbano paga o maior preço. Segundo informou-se pelas agências de notícia, cerca de  200 civis foram mortos nos últimos sete dias no Líbano. Em conseqüência do fogo de Hizbollah, pelo menos 24 israelenses foram mortos, inclusive 9 civis que estavam na estação de trem de Haifa. Morreram 30 soldados libaneses  antes mesmo de entrar em combate contra unidades israelenses. 

As Nações Unidas (ONU) quer que  uma força de paz internacional seja colocada na parte sul do Líbano para fazer o  Hizbollah parar de disparar mísseis contra  Israel. A força atuaria como uma força de estabilização contra ataques de ambos os lados do conflito.

Segundo a ONU, 500 mil  pessoas no Líbano saíram de suas casas, forçadas pela violência, que pode culminar num desastre humanitário. 

Uma equipe de ONU esteve em Israel na terça-feira (18), para conversar sobre  um possível acordo de cessar-fogo. O representante do governo repetiu a exigência dada por Israel para combinar um cessar-fogo:   os dois soldados israelenses raptados devem ser libertados e o governo libanês deve colocar suas tropas no sul do Líbano. O Líbano alega que colocar seus soldados nessa região pode desencadear uma guerra civil no país.

Os militantes de Hizbollah   dispararam na terça-feira (18)  foguetes contra  cidades ao   norte de Israel. Haifa, Acre, Kiryat Shemona e a região de Gush Halav foram atingidas. Um israelense foi morto. Militantes do Hizbollah fizeram comparações entre os "inimigos israelenses" que eles mantêm presos, sem julgamento, com os prisioneiros da Baía de Guantanamo; segundo  eles, uma situação semelhante.

Na terça,  caminhões de transporte foram  mais uma vez alvejados por aviões de guerra.   Segundo Israel os caminhões transportavam mísseis para o Hizbollah. Os militares israelenses dizem que desde o começo do conflito o Hizbollah já disparou 750 foguetes, mísseis ou morteiros.

Centenas de estrangeiros foram evacuadas do Líbano, por intermédio de qualquer transporte disponível. Barcos,  helicópteros e   ônibus foram usados por vários países europeus e os EUA para transportar os seus cidadãos para fora do país.