Food running out in south Lebanon, aid blocked

TYRE, Lebanon - The mayor of Tyre said the port city could run out of food in two days and humanitarian agencies tried to get aid to an estimated 100,000 people trapped in southern Lebanon today.

As the United Nations' new Human Rights Council voted to condemn Israel for "massive violations of human rights", aid workers struggled to send supplies to the region cut off when Israel bombed the last bridge across the Litani river earlier this week.

"We have not received any aid since the last route was cut off. We have enough food supplies for no more than two days," Tyre's mayor, Abdel-Mohsen al Husseini, told a news conference.

"We contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross to try to set up a humanitarian crossing over the Litani river but we have yet to receive an answer."

The ICRC said it had not been able to reach villages from where it had hoped to take several hundred people, including wounded, to safety in the north.

The UNHCR refugee agency condemned Israel's dropping of leaflets telling people in heavily populated areas in Beirut to flee on Thursday, which prompted hundreds to evacuate.

"We once again strongly appeal to all parties in the conflict to protect civilians and infrastructure during this conflict in accordance with international law," it said.

The UN World Food Programme, overseeing logistics for UN agencies, said a 15-truck convoy proceeded to the eastern town of Baalbek after it halted due to shelling a day earlier.

It also received Israeli clearance for convoys to Sidon and Nabatiyeh, towns north of the Litani, but could not reach Tyre, the biggest city south of the river, or border villages.

"We have clearance for everything north of the Litani," said WFP spokesman Robin Lodge. "Below that it's still a no-go area."

The World Health Organisation warned of a looming fuel shortage and it was trying to address requests for fuel from at least 24 private hospitals. It was looking into transporting a 10-day supply for those in most urgent need.

WFP emergency coordinator Zlatan Milisic said Lebanon's government had contracted a ship that could ferry fuel from two vessels docked in Cyprus which have refused to pass Israel's naval blockade for fear of attack.

"The earliest would be on August 13 for the ship to come and then go unload the fuel," he said.

The WFP said it had brought in 650 metric tonnes of aid, enough for 180,000 people in Lebanon and Syria, although that remained "far off the mark" from its goal of 300,000.

In Geneva, a total of 27 members of the 47 on the UN's new rights body -- including Russia, China, India and Latin American states -- voted on a text condemning Israel's military assault.

Eleven -- seven European Union members, Canada, Japan, Romania and Ukraine -- voted no and eight others -- including Switzerland, South Korea, Nigeria and Philippines -- abstained.

Countries against the resolution, including Israel itself, rejected the text as one-sided for making no reference to rocket attacks by Hizbollah, which sparked the war with a bloody July 12 raid inside the Jewish state.

Israel's month-old war with Hizbollah guerrillas has killed at least 1,030 people in Lebanon and destroyed an estimated US$2.5 billion ($4 billion) of infrastructure, while 123 Israelis have also been killed.

- REUTERS