Friday, July 21 2006 16:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to visit the Middle East as early as next week in an attempt to calm the violence between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.

"She does intend to travel to the region. She intends to travel to the region as early as next week," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack Thursday.

"We will keep you up to date on itinerary, timing and all the stops. We're working on that now," McCormack said.

A report by the New York Times Wednesday said Rice would go to the Middle East region and seek to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon and perhaps an international force to monitor Lebanon's borders to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining more rockets.

However, Rice was waiting at least a few more days before wading into the conflict, in part to give Israel more time to weaken Hezbollah forces, the report said.

Over 300 Lebanese have been killed, most of them civilians and many children, in the Israeli air strikes. Several dozen Israelis have also died from Hezbollah bombs lobbed into northern Israel. Further, an estimated 500,000 people are trapped by Israel's weeklong destruction of infrastructure and land and sea blockade, without food or medical supplies.