Thursday, August 10 2006 14:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: The newly-established United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session to discuss escalating conflict in Lebanon, which has killed more than 1,000 people and done extensive damage to the country's infrastructure.

The meeting was requested by Turkey on behalf of the Group of Arab States and Organization of Islamic Conference.

The request for the special session was supported by Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and South Africa.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council held its first session from June 19 to 30, and then its first special session on July 5-6 on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.