Blair announces Middle East plan

Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that a plan to end the current conflict in Lebanon is being drawn up.

Mr Blair said that it would take "a few days" to finalise the plan. Speaking at a news conference at Downing Street, where he was meeting with Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, he said: "We are working very hard to put in place a plan that will allow the immediate cessation of hostilities."

Mr Blair described the current situation as a "catastrophe" and said: "I want the killing to stop now, but it has got to happen on both sides. It is not going to happen on both sides unless there is a plan in place."

Mr Blair also called for an international force to be introduced to keep the peace in southern Lebanon.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there was an "urgent " need for a ceasefire in southern Lebanon as she arrived in Lebanese capital Beirut.

However, Ms Rice stressed that the conditions had to be right. During her journey from Washington, Ms Rice told reporters that it was important to establish conditions under which a ceasefire could take place, as well as conditions that would make a ceasefire sustainable.

Ms Rice has met with Lebanese leaders including Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and is heading to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli offensive into Lebanon began after two Israeli soldiers were captured and eight others were killed in a cross-border raid by Hezbollah fighters on July 12.

Regular airstrikes have been carried out by Israel in south Lebanon, while Hezbollah has responded by bombarding northern Israeli towns with rockets.

The latest news from the region is that Israeli troops have crossed the Lebanese border, and fierce fighting is reported in the town of Bint Jbeil, which is understood to be a known Hezbollah stronghold.

Over the weekend, Israeli ground forces seized control of the village of Maroun al-Ras in south Lebanon. According to reports, ten Israeli soldiers have been injured in the fighting.

It has also been reported that an Israeli helicopter has crashed near the border between Lebanon and northern Israel. An spokesperson for the Israeli army said that technical problems were to blame for the crash, while Hezbollah are reportedly claiming to have shot it down.

On Sunday, nine civilians were killed and a hundred were injured in airstrikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, while two people were killed and 20 were wounded when Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa in northern Israel.

Israel has called up thousands of reserve soldiers and has assembled troops and tanks on its northern border. However, a decision has yet to be made on whether Israel will launch a major ground incursion into Lebanon.

However, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned that a ground invasion of Lebanon by Israeli troops would not prevent rocket attacks on Israel.

More than 370 Lebanese people have been killed during the fighting, the majority of them civilians, while 36 Israelis have been killed.

Around 600,000 Lebanese people have been forced to leave their homes because of the conflict.

The evacuation of British citizens from Lebanon has now finished. The Foreign Office confirmed that 2,526 British nationals had been evacuated from Lebanon.

(KMcA/SP)