11 Bloody Days, No End in Sight

U.N. officials estimate that 500,000 Lebanese have fled their homes. Israeli officials indicate they plan to continue attacks for at least another week, saying they have destroyed a portion of Hezbollah's arsenal, but not enough to stop the air assault. In addition to air attacks, commando units have been attacking Hezbollah positions in south Lebanon. The Bush administration continues to oppose calls for a cease-fire. In Lebanon, more than 230 people have been killed; in Israel the toll is 25. A cruise ship chartered by the U.S. government arrives in Beirut to evacuate Americans.

July 19

Israeli planes drop 23 tons of bombs on what they believe is a bunker used by Hezbollah leaders. Hezbollah says no leaders were injured, and fires rockets into Israel, including some into the mostly Arab town of Nazareth, killing two Israeli Arab children. With the death toll in Lebanon over 300, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour says both sides could bear "personal criminal responsibility" for shelling cities with civilian populations. Two Israeli soldiers and one Hezbollah guerrilla are killed in ground fighting inside Lebanon, the Israeli army says. U.S. officials work on a proposal for a buffer area patrolled by international peacekeepers in south Lebanon to keep Hezbollah away from the border. The cruise ship Orient Queen carries some 900 American citizens out of Beirut.

July 20

Israel orders civilians across southern Lebanon to leave their homes, seeking to clear a swath nearly 20 miles deep, to the Litani River. Officials hint that expanded ground combat is to come. Thousands of fleeing Lebanese crowd roads to the north already heavily damaged by airstrikes. Nasrallah, in a television appearance, boasts of Hezbollah's ability to withstand Israeli attacks. Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel diminishes. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls for an immediate stop to the fighting but concedes that there are "serious obstacles to reaching a cease-fire, or even to diminishing the violence quickly." The death toll is more than 330 Lebanese and 32 Israelis.

July 21

Israel mobilizes reserves and masses tanks near the border in apparent preparation for expanded ground assaults. Relief workers say the number of dead in Lebanon is probably far higher than official estimates of 350 because many corpses lie unclaimed in border villages. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announces she will leave for the Middle East in two days but says an immediate cease-fire would offer only a "false promise" of safety. The U.S. will argue for a plan to suppress Hezbollah, halt arms resupply and strengthen the Lebanese government, officials say. Israel says that it has killed 100 Hezbollah guerrillas and that 34 Israelis, about half of them civilian, have died.

July 22

Israel says it is not mounting a full-scale invasion, as army troops cross into Lebanon near the northern Israeli community of Avivim in the most extensive incursion so far, penetrating at least 2 1/2 miles in a swath six miles wide. Israeli forces take control of Maroun el Ras, a strategically valuable high point in an area the Israelis think is a launching pad for Hezbollah rockets, and uncover a large cache of weaponry, including antitank missiles and launchers, in nearby Marwaheen. Tens of thousands flee southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes strike the southern port city of Sidon and communications towers in central and northern Lebanon. Hezbollah fires at least 90 rockets into Israel, striking

Kiryat Shemona in the northern Galilee, Nahariya and the Haifa area. Lebanese and U.N. officials warn of a humanitarian crisis, estimating that at least 700,000 people have been displaced.

Compiled by Times staff writers