Saleh visits Qatar in an attempt to gain Arab solidarity [Archives:2006/968/Front Page]
By: Hamdan Dammag
While Arab and international diplomacy continue their efforts to find a solution to the current crisis in Lebanon, Israel responds with one of its deadliest strikes against civilians.
SANA'A, July 30 ) In a short visit, President Ali Abdullah Saleh headed to Qatar yesterday to meet with his counterpart, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifah Al-Thani. According to Yemen's Saba News Agency, the visit aims to discuss the latest regional developments, particularly in Lebanon and Palestine, as well as Arab and Islamic efforts which should be exerted to stop the Israeli aggression and provide relief to citizens.
Saleh's visit came the same day that more than 54 civilians – at least 34 of them children – were killed in the conflict's deadliest Israeli strikes on Qana. Displaced families were sheltering in the basement of a house that was crushed after a direct hit in the small southern Lebanese town.
Observers believe Saleh's visit to Qatar takes on greater importance, after reports indicate that Qatar is one of several Arab nations indirectly supporting the war against Hezbollah.
The London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper reported that the daily Israeli Haaretz revealed that Israel's government is receiving secret letters from some Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, asking it to continue fighting until Hezbollah is demolished.
New massacre in Lebanon
Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced “Israeli war criminals,” calling on the U.N. secretary-general to demand an urgent Security Council meeting. He canceled talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was “deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life,” as she said.
Lebanese media sources reported that dozens of people remained trapped inside a three-story building. Some had fled Israeli bombardment of the Lebanese coastal town of Tyre. Efforts to get the wounded to a hospital have been hampered, as all roads around Qana have been destroyed by Israeli air strikes, sources added.
Qana was the site of Israel's bombing of a United Nations base in 1996, which killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's “Grapes of Wrath” offensive.
Thousands of Lebanese protesters stormed the U.N. building in Beirut yesterday in fury after the massacre in Qana. The U.S. has faced mounting criticism from around the world for not calling for an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon and for apparently giving Israel a green light to press on with its offensive.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week criticized Israel's actions, the responses of many other nations and media coverage of the events: “They're bombing entire cities – it's a true genocide. Where will this madness end? God only knows! It extends from Iraq to Lebanon and Palestine. Let's hope it doesn't spread further.”
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