Olmert: Israel won't reoccupy south Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a parliament committee today that Israel will not reoccupy any part of south Lebanon, participants said.
Yesterday, Defence Minister Amir Peretz said the army may set up a security zone in south Lebanon, an area Israeli occupied for 18 years. Peretz suggested in his comments that soldiers wouldn’t patrol the area, but that Israel would try to keep out militants from a distance, with artillery fire and air strikes.
Olmert told parliament’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee today that the army would control a two-mile area just inside the border, to ensure it is free of Hezbollah guerrillas, MPs quoted him as saying.
Olmert apparently made the comments to reassure MPs and the public that troops will not return to Lebanon permanently.
Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, after intense public pressure.
The Israeli public currently overwhelmingly supports the army’s broad offensive in Lebanon, but is not likely to support any reoccupation.
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