Israel cuts main artery for aid into south Lebanon

BEIRUT, Aug 7 (Reuters) An Israeli air strike destroyed the last crossing over Lebanon's Litani river today, cutting off the main artery for aid to the southern port of Tyre and hard-hit areas nearby, humanitarian groups said.

Christopher Stokes, director of operations for Medecins San Frontieres (MSF), said the bombing of a makeshift bridge had blocked a convoy of food, medical aid and fuel to Tyre, which has seen an increase in wounded from heavy fighting this week.

''Our last remaining supply route into Tyre into the south has been cut,'' he said after the air strike on the Qasmiyeh crossing about 10 km (6 miles) north of Tyre. The main road bridge there was knocked out by earlier air raids.

''They have also told us that they can provide no security guarantee that our convoy will not be attacked, so if we move it will be at our own risk and peril,'' Stokes said.

The agency said it would drive the supplies to the river's edge at a shallow point and pass them across by hand.

They said they faced increased danger after separate Israeli air strikes hit two vehicles within metres of a U.N. World Food Programme convoy yesterday, killing at least two civilians.

''These are very urgently needed supplies, especially if there is going to be increased fighting near Tyre,'' Stokes said.

The United Nations sent a convoy of 19 trucks south of Beirut to Sidon. Another 11 brought supplies from Syria on a slow, difficult route after Israeli jets destroyed four bridges on what the world body called its aid ''lifeline'' on Thursday.

The United Nations and aid groups say Israeli air strikes and a naval blockade hurt efforts to help many of the estimated 900,000 displaced by the war.

''The deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law,'' U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon David Shearer told reporters in Beirut.

''It is endangering our lives and the lives of our staff, but equally it is endangering the lives of the people who are at risk and need this humanitarian aid.'' SHELTERS OVERFLOWING The International Committee of the Red Cross said bombed out roads had bogged down one of its convoys near Lebanon's southern border, where heavy fighting has caused a new wave of refugees to stream northward to Beirut and its surrounding hills.

Humanitarian workers say more than 500,000 displaced people had filled available shelters and were putting pressure on supplies of food, water and money in the region.

Ahmad Taube and his family fled heavy fighting near the border town Borj Qalaway four days ago. Turned away from villages in the mountains and a Beirut school, they have taken shelter in a building gutted by Lebanon's 1970-1990 civil war.

The 100 people have one pipe for water and a toilet that flows to an open septic tank in the yard. Inside, two families are packed into an apartment where a missing wall gapes over a two storey drop to the rubble-strewn yard.

''I stayed in the bombing for three weeks but we finally had to leave. Today I found out my house is destroyed,'' Taube said.

''We tried everywhere else, but there was no room. We're out of money and want to go home. We don't want to stay here.'' REUTERS MQA RK2250