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US urges restraint after Qana but no ceasefire

Posted on: Sunday, 30 July 2006, 14:47 CDT

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States urged Israel on Sunday to take more care to avoid civilian casualties in Lebanon after an air strike killed at least 60 people, but still resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire.

"Today's actions in the Middle East remind us that the United States and friends and allies must work for a sustainable peace, particularly for the sake of children," President George W. Bush said.

His remarks, made before a children's baseball game at the White House, were his first direct comments on the attack on the southern Lebanese village of Qana. At least 37 of the victims were children.

Bush is under pressure from Arab and European allies to call for an immediate ceasefire. Despite Sunday's events, he insists on a U.N. resolution that aims to end Hizbollah's military control of southern Lebanon, officials said.

Presidential spokesman Tony Snow said earlier that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was working to arrange the conditions for a "sustainable" halt to violence.

"This is a horrible event, a terrible event, and we certainly want to make it clear that not only do we feel sorrow for what happened, but determination that it really is important to end the conditions that led to that," Snow told a group of reporters by telephone.

Snow repeated that "Israel does have a right to defend itself," but said it should show restraint and remember that in the end it will need to have positive relations with Lebanon and work for a two-state solution for the Palestinians.

Bush was informed of the Qana attack at 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT) by national security adviser Stephen Hadley and discussed it on the telephone with Rice and Hadley.

Snow said Bush wanted to push ahead this week toward a U.N. Security Council resolution that would set conditions for a ceasefire and establish a multinational force.

CONDEMN ATTACKS

The Security Council met in emergency session on Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging the body to condemn the Qana attack and call for an immediate end to hostilities.

Despite growing calls around the world for an immediate ceasefire, the United States has insisted for days that hostilities should only be halted on a basis that will last.

It backs Israeli demands for the Lebanese army, bolstered by an international force, to deploy to the south of the country controlled by Hizbollah, which has used the territory to rain rockets down on towns in northern Israel.

Qana became a symbol of Lebanese civilian deaths in April 1996, when Israeli shelling killed more than 100 civilians sheltering at the base of U.N. peacekeepers in Qana during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" bombing campaign. President Bill Clinton called then for a ceasefire.

International outrage over that attack helped force Israel to end its 17-day campaign that killed more than 200 Lebanese.

Images of destruction and mass civilian casualties in Lebanon are fueling anti-American fury throughout the entire Arab world and may force Israel to end its offensive sooner than it would like, without achieving its strategic goal of inflicting massive damage on Hizbollah.

Bush has insisted that a ceasefire package must include steps to compel Hizbollah to stop attacking Israel while putting pressure on Syria and Iran to stop arming Hizbollah with rockets and other weapons.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and David Lawder)

Source: REUTERS

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