Turkish soldiers and civilians today arrived in Beirut to join the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, making Turkey the first Muslim country to contribute troops to the mission.

Italian soldiers began arriving today in Lebanon, part of the first large contingent of international troops dispatched to boost the UN peacekeeping force here since a truce between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas was agreed three weeks ago.

Lebanese troops, tanks and armoured vehicles began deploying today to southern Lebanon in line with a UN ceasefire plan to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Aid workers moved gingerly around unexploded bombs littering southern Lebanon today to deliver food and fuel to people cut off by weeks of fighting and to evacuate war wounded to hospitals, officials said.

The Lebanese cabinet today approved a plan to deploy the army south of the Litani River to extend government authority over the region, a key provision of the UN ceasefire plan that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Thousands of Lebanese today joined the stream of refugees returning to their homes in southern Lebanon, followed closely by relief workers hoping to keep up with their needs in an area where a month of fighting devastated buildings and knocked out electricity and other essential services.

Israel has begun thinning out its troops in southern Lebanon and plans to hand over the first of its captured positions to the UN-supported Lebanese army tomorrow, the army said.

Israel has begun slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory today – on the first full day of a tense ceasefire that already has been tested by skirmishes.

Hezbollah today distributed leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its “big victory” and thanking citizens for their patience during the 34-day war with Israel.

Israeli warplanes struck several targets in north and south Lebanon early today, hours after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an end to the war with Hezbollah.

Israeli forces took control of the strategic southern hub of Marjayoun today and warned that its fight against Hezbollah could grow wider and more severe if diplomacy fails.

Israel’s security cabinet today decided to vastly expand its ground offensive and send troops deeper into Lebanon, in an attempt to deal more blows to Hezbollah and score quick battlefield victories before a Middle East ceasefire is imposed.

Israel’s military struck Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp early today, killing at least two people and wounding five, officials said. In the eastern Bekaa Valley five people were killed and two feared dead in an Israeli raid.

Israeli artillery pounded villages and hills throughout south Lebanon while a complete curfew was imposed on any civilians still trapped in the heart of the war zone.

Israeli warplanes intensified airstrikes and launched a new commando raid in south Lebanon today, killing at least 28 people in one of the heaviest tolls in days.

Israeli warplanes intensified airstrikes and launched a new commando raid in south Lebanon today, killing at least 23 people in one of the heaviest tolls in days.

Israeli commandos landed on a southern hilltop near Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast today, fighting Hezbollah in close combat in a bid to destroy its rocket launchers, as warplanes launched fresh airstrikes across the country, killing at least 28 people.

Israeli commandos landed on a southern hilltop near Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast today, fighting Hezbollah in close combat in a bid to destroy its rocket launchers, as warplanes launched fresh airstrikes across the country, killing at least 23 people.

HEZBOLLAH guerrillas unleashed their deadliest rocket attack on northern Israel yesterday, killing 12 reserve soldiers with a single missile at this kibbutz and killing at least three people and wounding dozens more with a barrage against Haifa.

Hezbollah guerrillas unleashed their deadliest barrage of rockets yet into northern Israel, killing at least 15 people, while Israeli bombardment killed at least 14 people in southern Lebanon as fighting only intensified despite a draft UN ceasefire resolution.

Israel continued its bombardment of Beirut early today, while Hezbollah fighters repelled Israeli paratroopers trying to land in the southern city of Tyre, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.

An Israeli missile hit a house in a Lebanese border village early today, killing a family of three, Lebanese security officials said.

SIX UN and Red Cross convoys destined for southern Lebanon were delayed yesterday after failing to receive security clearance from Israeli military forces, although another convoy reached the besieged town of Qana.

Two UN convoys destined for southern Lebanon were halted today after they failed to receive necessary security clearance from Israeli military forces and Hezbollah, but another convoy reached the besieged town of Qana, officials said.

AS thousands of civilians trapped for nearly three weeks in south Lebanon’s war zone streamed north yesterday by truck, car and on foot, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert vowed there would be no ceasefire in the fight against Hezbollah.

Israel will “expand and strengthen” its attack on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, the defence minister said today, diminishing hopes that a 48-hour halt in air strikes could be turned into a longer-term ceasefire.

At least 56 people, more than half children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that crushed a building today – the deadliest attack of the Israeli campaign.

Israeli missiles struck a southern Lebanese village today killing about 50 civilians – half of them children – when the building they sought refuge in collapsed.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II voiced his strongest criticism of his Israeli peace partner today as the strike on Qana sparked an outcry of anger across the Arab world.

Up to 50 people were killed today – more than half of them children – when Israeli missiles struck a southern Lebanese village early today, flattening houses on top of sleeping residents.

ONE-in-five Lebanese has been made homeless by the ongoing violence between Hezbollah and Israel, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday.

Israeli warplanes staged a series of raids in northern, eastern and southern Lebanon early today, targeting suspected Hezbollah hideouts, striking a Lebanese army base and destroying roads, Lebanese security officials said.

ISRAEL yesterday suffered its heaviest losses in Lebanon in its offensive against Hezbollah, with militants killing eight soldiers in a battle for a key town.

A top Israeli general today said he expected Israel’s offensive in Lebanon to last several more weeks.

Two Lebanese children have been reunited with their father in Ireland after being evacuated from their homeland amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.

The first UN convoy with food and medicine left Beirut today for Tyre, a hard-hit port city in southern Lebanon, a UN agency said.

An Israeli bomb destroyed a United Nations observer post on the border in southern Lebanon, today, killing four peacekeepers.

A UN observation post was hit by an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon tonight and there were casualties, a UN spokesman said.

Hundreds of Americans and Russians were reported still stranded in the heart of Lebanon’s war zone today, after a ship pulled foreign nationals out of a port in the south of the country.

Two Lebanese children whose father lives in Kilkenny are on their way to Ireland after being evacuated from their homeland.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will lobby Israeli leaders today in an attempt to silence the guns and halt the bloodshed on both sides of the Lebanese border.

FIERCE fighting has been raging at the Lebanese border as Israeli troops moved to besiege the biggest town there — Bint Jbail, nicknamed the “capital of the resistance” due to its intense support of Hezbollah during Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of the south.

The United Nations’ humanitarian chief today issued an emergency appeal for £81m (€118.58m) in humanitarian aid to help Lebanon through the next three months following the damage wreaked by Israel’s bombardment of the country.

British and American officials said their evacuations from Lebanon were wrapping up today, as ships continued to carry people to safety in Cyprus and Turkey.