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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israeli military prepared to stay in Lebanon |
| 2006-08-16 |
| ISRAEL said last night its troops might remain in Lebanon well past the two-week UN deadline set for their withdrawal, as Israeli fears mounted that it had failed in its bid to crush Hezbollah. As the tenuous truce continued to hold, officials in Jerusalem said Hezbollah had emerged emboldened from the 33-day war, with support for the guerilla group surging across the Arab world. In Lebanon, tens of thousands of family cars are heading home to the Shia-dominated south emblazoned with Hezbollah flags and posters of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, boasting in English, "The Divine Victory". Israeli fears have heightened over the delay in mobilising an international force for southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army into what used to be a no-go zone. The UN has indicated it will be ready to send only an advance guard of 3000 soldiers, and Lebanese troops are yet to be given their orders to move south. And even if the Lebanese troops are ready to roll, the destruction of the country's bridges by Israeli bombers will make a widespread land deployment to the south impossible for at least a fortnight. Up to 500,000 people are on the move in southern Lebanon, turning the 80km from Beirut to the Israeli border into the world's largest carpark. Bottlenecks tens of kilometres long occurred at bombed-out bridges and arterial roads, where soldiers were helping each car to negotiate the rubble. Hezbollah men nearby were handing out celebratory lollies and leaflets. Both Israel and Hezbollah have so far overlooked the fact that several so-called deal-breaking conditions are yet to take effect - a position that appears to strengthen the likelihood of the ceasefire holding. Hezbollah had previously said it would attack Israeli troops while they continued to occupy south Lebanon, while Israel had said it would attack the Hezbollah forces if they did not disarm and remained in the area south of the Litani River. Hezbollah's two key backers, Iran and Syria, have indicated they will begin resupplying the group's depleted stocks of missiles as soon as Lebanon's borders are reopened. Heightening Israeli concern is the Lebanese Government's insistence this week that its army would never be drawn into combat with Hezbollah - a fight they would almost certainly lose. The 60,000-strong Lebanese army has not taken on Hezbollah's 5000 highly trained guerilla fighters at any time during the past 18 years, and is even more reluctant to do so now they are seen by the Arabs as triumphant warriors of resistance. UNIFIL, the force considered more likely to impose UN Security Council resolution 1701, was yesterday still compiling the size and make-up of its deployment. Hezbollah has said it does not feel obliged to hold fire by the UN resolution, but last night the group was considered unlikely to launch large-scale attacks against the occupying Israeli forces, because this would jeopardise the safety of the tens of thousands of residents and supporters who are streaming back to their homes in south Lebanon. Several small-scale skirmishes have erupted since the artillery guns fell silent at 8am on Monday, but none that threatened a return to all-out war. In a letter published by The Washington Post, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the UN peace plan for Lebanon would be difficult to implement, but was a "good first step" to a lasting peace in the Middle East. In her letter, Dr Rice said the international community was helping the Lebanese Government to "create the conditions of lasting peace, full independence, complete sovereignty, effective democracy and a weakened Hezbollah with fewer opportunities to rearm and regroup". |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #3 If Olmert had had a measurable testosterone level, none of this would be necessary. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-08-16 23:20 |
| #2 They might as well stay - save money on the gas it will take to go back in a couple of weeks. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-08-16 22:45 |
| #1 You know, the wife had CBS Evening News on - I begrudgingly watched it - and on it they declared Hizbullah the winner and proceeded to devote 3 minutes or so to pure Hizbullah "social services" propaganda. Made me want to retch...I hadn't seen the network news for weeks, but the pure shilling and taking Hizbullah's words at face value makes me despair for our future. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2006-08-16 22:33 |