UN aid convoy heads to bombed Lebanese village Qana

BEIRUT, July 31 (Reuters) Two United Nations aid convoys left Lebanon's capital Beirut today, headed for the southern port of Tyre and Qana, the village where Israeli bombs killed at least 54 civilians yesterday.

World Food Programme spokesman Robin Lodge said by telephone from the convoy that nine trucks were going to Tyre with aid for Palestinan refugees and six trucks would go on to Qana with food and medical supplies.

International aid agencies were hoping to take advantage of a 48-hour Israeli suspension of air strikes on southern Lebanon to deliver much needed aid and help get people out of the area, devastated by daily bombardments since July 12.

Normally, Tyre is about an 80 minute drive from Beirut but Israeli bombing of the main coastal highway means trucks have to take a circuitous route through the mountains and along narrow dusty tracks, adding four to five hours to the journey.

Lodge said the UN hoped to send a third convoy to Bint Jbeil tomorrow, the town near the border where Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hizbollah guerrillas last week.

International aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres said today, it hoped to get supplies from Tyre to another border village called Rmeish by tomorrow if the suspension of Israeli air strikes made it safe.

The United Nations estimates up to 800,000 people have been displaced by the bombing and fighting in southern Lebanon but many civilians are still trapped, too poor to get transport or too scared to run the gauntlet of Israeli air strikes.

REUTERS LL BD1455