Food running out in south Lebanon, aid blocked

TYRE, Lebanon, Aug 11 (Reuters) Humanitarian agencies sought ways to get aid to an estimated 100,000 people trapped in southern Lebanon today and the mayor of Tyre said the port city could run out of food in two days.

United Nations and other convoys have been unable to deliver supplies to the region since an Israeli air strike destroyed the last bridge across the Litani river on Monday.

''We have not received any aid since the last route was cut off.

We have enough food supplies for no more than two days,'' Tyre's mayor, Abdel-Mohsen al Husseini, told a news conference.

''We contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross to try to set up a humanitarian crossing over the Litani river but we have yet to receive an answer,'' he said.

The ICRC said it had not been able to reach villages where it had hoped to take several hundred people, including wounded, to safety in the north. ''Obviously we will continue to try to reach and supply these villages and evacuate the wounded and sick,'' said spokeswoman Antonella Notari.

ICRC chief Jakob Kellenberger said after talks in Jerusalem on Thursday: ''The time for improved access is long overdue.'' Israel's month-old war with Hizbollah guerrillas has killed at least 1,023 people in Lebanon and destroyed an estimated 2.5 billion dollar of infrastructure, while 123 Israelis have been killed.

The UN World Food Programme, overseeing logistics for UN agencies, said a 15-truck convoy to the eastern town of Baalbek halted at the city of Zahle due to shelling on the road ahead.

It also received Israeli clearance for convoys to Nabatiyeh, a town north of the Litani, but could not reach Tyre, the biggest city south of the river, or border villages.

''We have clearance for everything north of the Litani,'' said WFP spokesman Robin Lodge. ''Below that it's still a no-go area.'' The World Health Organisation was receiving requests for fuel from at least 24 private hospitals and was looking into transporting a 10-day supply for those in most urgent need.

Aid group Mercy Corps began setting up a forward operations point in Jezzine, a southern Christian town that has become a hub for humanitarian efforts in the mostly Muslim south.

''We've had trouble getting convoys to the south from Beirut. The coast may be clear in the morning, but by the time we get down there, new fighting or shelling has broken out,'' said Mercy Corps communications officer Cassandra Nelson.

''With the security situation getting worse and worse, this centre will let us dash in, deliver, and dash out.'' REUTERS DKB BD1742