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By Steven Erlanger and Jad Mouawad
The New York Times
Monday 17 July 2006
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Jerusalem - Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations called Monday
for an international force in southern Lebanon to end the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militia, which
continued for a sixth deadly day.
The United States and Israel reacted skeptically, with President Bush urging tartly that Mr. Annan telephone President
Bashar al-Assad of Syria, a key sponsor of Hezbollah, "and make something happen." In Russia for a Group of Eight summit
meeting, Mr. Bush expressed his views to Mr. Blair, using an expletive in what he thought was a private comment caught
by an open microphone.
With the Lebanese death toll exceeding 200 and the Israeli casualties at 24, the increased efforts to turn to diplomacy
showed little prospect of an immediate way out. In Lebanon, the vast majority of those killed were civilians, while in
Israel about half of the dead were civilians.
In a televised speech to parliament, Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, vowed to continue the offensive until
Hezbollah freed two captured Israeli soldiers, the Lebanese Army was deployed along the border with Israel and Hezbollah
was effectively disarmed. Hezbollah has consistently rejected those terms.
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