Day-by-day: Lebanon crisis - week five

A day-by-day look at how the conflict involving Israel and Hezbollah is unfolding in its fifth week.

Day-by-day: Week one

Day-by-day: Week two

Day-by-day: Week three

Day-by-day: Week four

TUESDAY 15 AUGUST

On the second day of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, there is sporadic violence overnight and during the day.

The search for bodies has continued despite the ceasefire

Israeli soldiers shoot five Hezbollah gunmen, killing at least three, the army says.

Hezbollah militants fire several mortars southwards, the army also says, but says it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the US' vision of the region has become an illusion, and Hezbollah's "victory" has led to the emergence of a new Middle East.

The UN says it hopes to get 3,500 troops on the ground in southern Lebanon within two weeks, mostly from France.

Syria hails 'a new Middle East'

MONDAY 14 AUGUST

After 24 hours of heavy violence, fighting ends at 0800 local time (0500 GMT) as the UN-brokered ceasefire comes into force.

Some found only scant remnants of their possessions among the rubble

Thousands of displaced Lebanese jam the bomb-cratered roads as they try to return to homes in the south, although Israeli travel restrictions remain in place. Few civilians in northern Israel venture out of bomb shelters.

Israeli troops remain largely in position in south Lebanon, and in one incident, open fire on what they say are Hezbollah militants, killing one person.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says the ceasefire has eliminated Hezbollah's "state within a state".

Hezbollah distributes leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory", and leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah gives an address broadcast on Hezbollah television claiming an "historic victory".

The presidents of US and Iran blame each other for fuelling the crisis.

Calm as Mid-East ceasefire begins

SUNDAY 13 AUGUST

Israel's cabinet endorses the UN resolution but says its forces will not leave southern Lebanon until peacekeepers are deployed in force.

The eve of the truce saw no let-up in the fighting

Lebanon's cabinet indefinitely postpones a crucial meeting on the detail of the peace plan, reportedly over the issue of disarming Hezbollah.

UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown says it may take a month before a joint UN-Lebanese force is fully in place in south Lebanon.

Fighting continues: Israeli forces bombard Hezbollah targets in Tyre and Beirut, and Hezbollah fires 250 rockets into Israel.

SATURDAY 12 AUGUST

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announces that ceasefire will come into effect at 0500GMT on Monday.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says his group will abide by the UN ceasefire but pledges to continue fighting as long as Israeli troops are inside Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert describes the resolution as positive and acceptable, and says he will put it to his cabinet on Sunday.

Israel continues ground attacks, tripling its forces inside Lebanon and reaching as far north as the Litani river.

It suffers its heaviest combat losses in a single day since the start of the conflict, with 24 soldiers killed.

FRIDAY 11 AUGUST

The UN Security Council unanimously approves a new resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Resolution 1701 calls for "a full cessation of hostilities" and a 15,000-strong force to replace Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli soldier died fighting in western Lebanon

The Israeli bombardment continues, with 11 civilians killed in a raid in Akkar province near the Syrian border, while an area of southern Beirut is also attacked.

The Israeli army says a soldier has been killed in fierce clashes in the western Lebanese village of Labuneh, and 19 soldiers have been injured in fighting across southern Lebanon overnight.

Two armoured vehicles from the UN peacekeeping force, Unifil, are sent to the town of southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun to evacuate some 350 Lebanese soldiers and police who are stranded in barracks there.

THURSDAY 10 AUGUST

Top UN humanitarian official Jan Egeland criticises both Israel and Hezbollah for hindering access to southern Lebanon.

Israel again dropped warning leaflets - this time over south Beirut

Hezbollah rocket attacks kill two people in the Arab village of Deir al-Assad in northern Israel, while an Israeli soldier is killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.

Israeli air strikes kill two Lebanese civilians - one near Tyre, the other in the Bekaa Valley.

Heavy clashes are reported in and around the towns of Marjayoun and Khiam after Israeli armoured columns crossed into Lebanon overnight.

Israeli planes drop leaflets on south Beirut, warning residents of three districts to leave immediately.

The UN Security Council holds more talks to try to resolve differences over the wording of a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

WEDNESDAY 9 AUGUST

Israel's security cabinet approves a plan to send troops towards the Litani River, up to 30km (18 miles) from the border, but delays implementing the plan to allow more time for diplomacy.

Fifteen Israeli soldiers are killed during a day of intense fighting in Lebanese villages near the border. Israel says 40 Hezbollah guerrillas also died. After nightfall Israeli troops launch an operation against Hezbollah positions in the town of Khiam.

The Israeli bombardment continues, with at least six people killed as a building collapses in Mashghara in the Bekaa valley. Medical sources say a Hezbollah member lived there. Two people die in raid in a Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon.

Fierce fighting has been continuing in southern Lebanon

The United States and France try to re-draft their UN resolution, after strong Arab objections that an earlier version did not call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. French President Jacques Chirac says it would be "immoral" to give up on efforts to secure an immediate truce.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah endorses a Lebanese government plan to send 15,000 soldiers to the south.

The death toll from an attack on southern Beirut on Monday rises to 41 as more bodies are found in the rubble.