CNN reports on US plans to evacuate US citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus if the hostilities worsen, or other parties join in:

Pentagon and U.S. State Department officials are working on contingency plans to get about 25,000 people out of Lebanon to escape Israel’s military campaign, launched after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah guerrillas.

An “air bridge” is the term for planes that would move in swiftly and ferry people out in quick succession.

Planners are focusing on flying people from the Lebanese capital of Beirut to the island of Cyprus, officials said. (Video Link)

In a sign that the Iraeli offensive against Hizbullah in Lebanon is having good effect, Hizbullah leaders are fleeing in this report from Jerusalem Post. It’s a clear demonstration of how terrorists work – incite violence then flee like a rat to let others suffer. It’s past time to kill the rats, no matter what rat-hole country they flee to.

Hizbullah leaders and operatives were leaving Beirut on Saturday following a massive IAF strike on an 11-story building that served as the organization’s command center, initial intelligence revealed.

Channel 2 reported that the move appeared to be made under heavy security.

CTV reports on ineffective Taliban rocket attacks that continue on the base in Kandahar, Afghanistan in an effort to weaken NATO resolve, or score propaganda points.

Another rocket has struck the coalition base in Kandahar, Afghanistan where Canadian troops are based. The rocket hit the base Saturday, though there were no reported casualties.

It is one of about 30 rockets that have struck the base in the past few months, said CTV’s Steve Chao, reporting from the scene. “At least one rocket landed on the Kandar airbase. We outrselves could hear the whistle of the rocket as it flew over our heads and landed just a few hundred metres from where we are,” Chao told CTV Newsnet.

In other Afghan front news we have these reports from earlier in the week as we get an air summary at Global Security.org:

In Afghanistan July 13, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and a B-1B Lancer provided close-air support for coalition forces taking small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire from Taliban extremists near Musah Qal’eh. The B-1B expended a guided bomb unit-31 on the extremists’ location, ending the engagement.

Air Force A-10s and a B-1B provided close-air support for coalition forces taking small arms fire from Taliban extremists near Tarin Kowt. The B-1B expended GBU-31s and GBU-38s on an extremist’s bunker, mortar position and on enemy forces in a tree line, ending the engagement.

In a separate engagement in Tarin Kowt, Air Force A-10s provided close-air support for coalition forces taking small arms fire from Taliban extremists. The A-10s expended general-purpose 500-pound bombs, a GBU-12 and conducted strafing passes expending cannon rounds on the extremist’s location and ending the engagement

In Afghanistan July 14, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and French Air Force M-2000s provided close-air support for coalition forces taking small arms fire from Taliban extremists near Tarin Kowt. The A-10s conducted strafing passes, expending cannon rounds and ending the engagement

Also noted Forty more Taliban sent to graves in firefights in the south, and two suicide bombers were captured disguised as women. It sounds like they are getting desperate, eh? (in case you are wondering why these reports are always in numbers like “forty or more”, its hard to get an accurate count when the body parts are all mixed up by multiple explosions, and then burnt from the munitions.)

Coalition officials in Afghanistan say more than 40 Taleban fighters have been killed in separate gunbattles across the country’s south.

A statement released Saturday said coalition troops launched a pre-dawn attack on the insurgent stronghold of Sangin in Helmand province, killing 10 Taleban fighters.

Deadly gunbattles have also been reported in Uruzgan and Zabul provinces over the past few days.

Meanwhile, officials said Saturday that two foreign men who were killed in Uruzgan province on Friday were suspected suicide bombers disguised as women. The two were clad in the all-covering burqas worn by women in Afghanistan.

The U.S.-led coalition has launched a major offensive against Taleban insurgents in eastern and southern Afghanistan. More than 10,000 coalition and Afghan troops are taking part in the operation that began in May.

In Pakistan rioters have burnt a Pizza Hut and several gas stations following the funeral of shia religious hardliner cleric Turabi:

KARACHI, Pakistan — Hundreds of youths set fire to a Pizza Hut restaurant, two gas stations and a dozen vehicles in Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, after Saturday’s funeral for an Islamic Shiite cleric killed in a suicide attack.

Rioters rampaged through a busy commercial area a day after a suicide bomber killed cleric Allama Hassan Turabi, his cousin and a police guard.