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Amid blasts, a human crisis grows

With supply lines cut off and 500,000 displaced, aid workers say the situation in Lebanon is on the brink of disaster.

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 22, 2006

TYRE, Lebanon - The recorded warning came to phone numbers in southern Lebanon. In Arabic, it instructed: Leave now. Don't flee in vans or trucks, or you will be a target. The message signed off simply: the state of Israel.

But leaving was anything but easy. Residents had no gasoline for their cars and little hope of finding safety. "We're just left here to die," said resident Maher Yassin.

The situation in Tyre is a microcosm of the latest Israel-Arab conflict. In Israel's attacks aimed at the militant group Hezbollah, Lebanon's civilians have suffered, with hundreds dead and an estimated 500,000 displaced.

With supply lines cut off, aid workers are worried about decreasing supplies of safe water and sanitation, and international observers say they fear a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.

International efforts to get aid to Lebanon appeared to be getting off the ground Friday, as Israel said it will open a corridor to allow food, medicine and other aid into the country.

"In spite of the very difficult situation on the ground," said Dan Gillerman, Israel's U.N. ambassador, "Israel is acutely aware of the humanitarian situation. ... A two-way in-and-out humanitarian corridor to meet the needs of those affected on the Lebanese side has been established."

That led France to mobilize to send urgent aid to Lebanon, and the Red Cross brought in relief supplies to the south.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said during a visit to Beirut on Friday that France was dispatching urgent aid to Lebanon by air and sea, and called for safe passage.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said French humanitarian aid arriving at the south Lebanese port of Sidon would be allowed through.

Aid workers say it is difficult to assess needs because they're having trouble moving around the country. Israeli airstrikes have demolished bridges and main roads across southern Lebanon, making movement difficult and dangerous. Some villages have been almost completely cut off.

A convoy arrived after a six-hour journey over war-damaged roads from Beirut. The relief effort - coordinated with Israeli authorities - brought 24 tons of food, medical supplies and other assistance to the port city, according to spokesman Vincent Lusser.

UNICEF will be delivering water kits, purification tablets, water containers, essential drugs and toys over the weekend to Damascus for road shipment to Lebanon.

"We're talking about kids that have suffered from scars that have been inflicted over the last few days that are likely to last a generation. Finding some way to find some kind of normalcy in a completely abnormal situation is another one of our priorities," UNICEF spokeswoman Wivina Belmonte said.

Stockpiles of aid supplies were growing as countries worldwide pledged funds.

That was welcome news in Beirut, where thousands are sleeping in parks, crammed into schools or bunking with relatives and friends.

"I tried to stay at home, but then the bombs started falling really close. I couldn't risk it any longer," said Mohammed Othman, who with his wife and 3-month-old daughter fled their home in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyah.

Nearby, Mariam Waked, 61, shared a mattress with her 85-year-old mother, Zahra, and her 41-year-old daughter, Wafa. Zahra has a broken hip. Wafa is crippled by a birth defect.

"I am going crazy, how can these two survive this much longer?" Mariam Waked asked, spreading out six packages of pills. "What if their medicine runs out?"

Timur Goksel, senior U.N. adviser in south Lebanon for 24 years, said nearly everyone in the region who could afford to leave has fled.

"There's always a way if you have the money. Villages closer to the border may be totally abandoned," he said. "But the rest, where and how can they go?"

Information from the Washington Post, New York Times and Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified July 22, 2006, 00:51:56]