Daily Breakfast Spreads: War Continues in the Middle East

AP Photo/Jacob SilberbergWhile we were soundly asleep in this part of the world last night -- I assume you've slept well, because I did -- the war continue to ravage in the Middle East. Via Bloomberg:

Israeli Planes Attack 100 Targets; Hezbollah Fires 210 Rockets

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli warplanes attacked 100 sites in southern Lebanon today, after Hezbollah fired 210 rockets, the most since the conflict began three weeks ago.

As many as 8,000 Israeli soldiers were sent across the border, the Associated Press reported today. The deployment followed a commando raid on Baalbeck, in eastern Lebanon, where Israel said it captured five Hezbollah fighters and killed 11. The Shiite organization responded with rocket attacks on Acre, Dir al-Assad and Kiryat Shmona. One person was killed.

Prospects for a diplomatic solution receded after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late yesterday that Israel won't agree to stop fighting until a United Nations peacekeeping force large enough to contain Hezbollah is deployed. The UN postponed a meeting planned for tomorrow to discuss that force as the French government said the world body first had to agree on truce terms.

"If we have to go deeper into Lebanon, then we'll go deeper,'' Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, Israel's military chief of staff, told reporters in remarks broadcast from Beit Hillel, about five miles south of the Lebanese border. "If we have to go even deeper than that, we'll also be there.''

The targets struck by Israel today included buildings it said were used by Hezbollah fighters and missile launching sites, according to the army.

Ground fighting was limited to Lebanese villages adjacent to Israel's border, an army spokeswoman said. Residents in villages near the Litani River, about 29 kilometers (18 miles) inside Lebanon, were advised to leave, the army said.

Today, Malaysia as the chair of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is hosting the Meeting of the Friends of the Chairman of the 10th Islamic Summit Conference to discuss specifically on the situation in the Middle East.

We can expect a statement to come from this meeting, but will they go beyond expressing "grave concern" and merely repeating the call for immediate ceasefire? We've heard the phrase being repeatedly said over the past three weeks now and is fast losing its its meaning. The situation in the Middle East is "grave" enough, metaphorically and literally. Each day, people are burying their deads, and most of them children!

Via Bernama, our Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said of the meeting:

Malaysia Not Idling Watching Suffering In West Asia, Says Syed Hamid

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is hosting the Meeting of the Friends of the Chairman of the 10th Islamic Summit Conference on Thursday because it does not wish to remain idle watching the suffering of the people in West Asia, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said today.

He said Malaysia, as the chair of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), was taking action in accordance with its capability to hold the meeting. "Rather than take action individually, it is better to do so in a group," he told reporters after looking at the preparations for the meeting, here.

The one-day meeting would be attended by 19 countries, and they would be represented by the head of government or foreign minister.