What's being done

U.S. diplomats were headed to the region Thursday in an effort to stem the violence. The U.N. said three of its veteran officials, led by Vijay Nambiar, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special political adviser. The three will head to Cairo for a meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers on Saturday and also travel to Israel, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, the U.N. said.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch was expected to land in the region today to speak with Israelis and Palestinians.

WORLD REACTION

THE EUROPEAN UNION criticized Israel for using "disproportionate" force in its attacks on Lebanon. The EU also called Israel's naval blockade cutting off supply routes to Lebanon unjustified.

EGYPT warned that the violence could engulf the entire region in conflict and called on all sides to avoid "being dragged into a new cycle of violence and counterviolence."

IRAN'S PRESIDENT warned Israel against extending its offensive in Lebanon to neighboring Syria, saying such a move would be regarded as an attack on the whole Islamic world and be met with a "crushing response," the official Iranian news agency said today.

"If the occupying regime of Jerusalem attacks Syria, it will be equivalent to an attack on the whole Islamic world and the regime [Israel] will face a crushing response," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by IRNA. The Iranian leader called on Muslim countries to create a united front against Israel.

SAUDI ARABIA, the Arab world's political heavyweight and economic powerhouse, accused Hezbollah guerrillas -- without naming them -- of "uncalculated adventures" that precipitated the latest Middle East crisis.

AT THE UNITED NATIONS, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply alarmed" by the escalating violence. Lebanon asked the U.N. Security Council to demand a cease-fire.

RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER, Sergei Lavrov, said, "This is a disproportionate response to what has happened, and if both sides are going to drive each other into a tight corner, then I think that all this will develop in a very dramatic and tragic way."

PRESIDENT BUSH backed the Israeli action. "Israel has a right to defend herself," he said at a news conference in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel. "Every nation must defend herself against terrorist attacks and the killing of innocent life."

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE told reporters, "We just continue to ask that the Israelis exercise restraint, be concerned about civilian casualties, be concerned of course about civilian infrastructure."

RESIDENTS REACT

IN ISRAEL, the steady boom of Hezbollah's Katyusha rockets triggered air-raid sirens and calls to take cover in basements throughout Israel's northern border area. "This is taking us back 20 years to the Lebanon war," said Rachel Ronen, 54, whose accounting firm was left a shambles by the morning rockets that hit 15 minutes before her secretary was due for work. Asked what Israel should do in return, Ronen, her eyes red from weeping, said, "Hit them."

ACROSS LEBANON, residents expressed fear that the conflict might drag on days, even weeks.

"What do I think personally?" asked Munzir Baram, a 40-year-old Lebanese making his way across a partially repaired bridge spanning the Damour River. "It's going to get a lot, lot worse."

"Pity Lebanon," he said. "Pity it."