GWEN IFILL: Our coverage of the crisis in the Middle East begins with two reports on the fighting from Lebanon and from Israel. First, Julian Manyon of Independent Television News in Bint Jbail, Lebanon.
JULIAN MANYON, ITV News Correspondent: In the ruins of Bint Jbail, wild dogs now roam the wreckage. Beneath the rubble are the bodies of people killed in massive Israeli bombardments.
This is a key part of the buffer zone that Israel is trying to seize. Today, it is an empty wasteland.
The town's small Islamic hospital has also been hit. A rocket struck the roof, but doctors are still working, treating a steady flow of casualties with shrapnel wounds.
With a team of European volunteer doctors, we set out for Aitaroun. A way through was cleared by bulldozer this morning, but terrible devastation all around.
Coming the other way, people desperate to get out of Israel's planned security zone. They travel in any way they can, hoping that no bombs fall.
When we reached the village, small groups of people coming out of hiding, begging anyone with a vehicle for help. We went with one of the volunteer doctors to rescue an elderly couple stranded in their home.
Hussein Basi (ph) is 86 years old. He could only walk with difficulty to our car. His 90-year-old wife, Megmai (ph), needed no persuasion to join us.
We're now trying to inch our way out of the village of Aitaroun with the two people we've helped from their house. It's a difficult drive, because the road is absolutely littered with rubble and shards of metals, and any of those could burst one of our tires...
At that very second, one of our tires was punctured by a piece of debris. With Israeli jets circling overhead, we worked as fast as possible to change the wheel. The old couple waited nervously in the car.
When we got moving again, Hussein told me about the nightmare they'd lived through. "This is the worst of all of the wars I've seen," he said. "We haven't eaten for days."
Finally, we reached the hospital at Bint Jbail where the elderly couple could find at least temporary shelter.
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