US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been meeting leaders in the Middle East on the first leg of a visit to discuss the current crisis in Lebanon.
Before meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Ms Rice said there was an 'urgent' need for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but that conditions needed to be right.
Saying she was 'deeply concerned' about the welfare of the Lebanese people, she emphasised that any peace deal must address the root cause of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Dr Rice will also meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas during her visit to the Middle East.
Mr Olmert said his government would be prepared to consider the deployment of European soldiers in southern Lebanon to keep the peace.
Although the White House has said that an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon would be unenforceable.
Syrian minister Buthaina Shaaban said it was a disgrace that Dr Rice had taken so long to travel to the region. He also called on the US to involve Hezbollah in talks, as the Clinton administration had done ten years ago.
In attacks today, Israeli air raids killed at least seven people and injured 50 in south Lebanon. Bombs also hit a Shia area of Beirut.
Hezbollah rockets struck Haifa, Nahariya and the border town of Shlomi, wounding at least four people.
Such rockets have killed 17 Israelis since the start of the conflict, launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July. At least 377 people have been killed in Lebanon.
Evacuation continues
Indian navy ships with 800 Indians, Nepalis and Sri Lankans on board have reached Cyprus, bringing to 35,000 the number of evacuees arriving on the island.
23,000 of them have already travelled onward to their homes.
1,600 evacuees, mostly US, landed today at Mersin in Turkey.
Two Lebanese children whose father holds an Irish passport have been evacuated from the port of Tyre aboard a German ship.
Since Munier Zabed separated from his wife their two children, 6-year-old Gradier and 7-year-old Ali, have been living with their grandmother in Tyre.
Munier became an Irish passport holder after he was granted refugee status here two years ago.
Last week RTÉ News reported on Munier's fear that he would not see his two children again.
Egeland tours southern Beirut
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, has toured southern Beirut, an area that has seen some of the heaviest Israeli air strikes.
Mr Egeland likened the destruction of homes to a return to what he called the dark ages and said it was a violation of humanitarian law.
However, he also said that Hezbollah should not carry out military operations in civilian areas because of the horrendous consequences.
He also appealed for at least $150 million to meet the needs of some 800,000 people affected by the conflict, warning that 'the longer the hostilities last, the more dramatic the humanitarian situation will become'.
Mr Egeland said Israel had caused enormous damage to residential areas and key civilian infrastructure such as power plants, seaports, and fuel depots.
He pointed out that 'hundreds' of bridges and virtually all road networks had been systematically destroyed, leaving entire communities in the south of the country inaccessible.
