Lebanon appeals for international help to end war

BEIRUT, July 19 (Reuters) Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora today called on the international community to intervene to end an Israeli onslaught against the country and to rush in badly needed humanitarian aid.

''I call on you to respond immediately and without reservation to our call for a ceasefire and to provide urgent international humanitarian aid,'' Siniora said in a televised appeal to the international community.

''I hope you won't let us down.'' He said more than 300 people had been killed and 1,000 wounded in the eight-day-old Israeli assault. He said more than 500,000 Lebanese had been displaced.

Siniora added that hospitals had been crippled and there were shortages in food and medical supplies.

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