Middle East truce withstands early tests
Israel has begun slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory today – on the first full day of a tense ceasefire that already has been tested by skirmishes.
But Israeli and Hezbollah forces held their ground and raised hopes that the UN-imposed pact could stick.
Hezbollah guerrillas fired at least 10 rockets in southern Lebanon, but none crossed the border into Israel. Yesterday, at least six Hezbollah militiamen were killed by Israeli troops waiting for a peacekeeping force before beginning a full-scale withdrawal.
Lebanon was under intense international pressure to get soldiers moving south into Hezbollah territory – a key element in the UN Security Council plan to end the 34-day conflict that claimed more than 950 lives.
Lebanon’s defence minister, Elias Murr, said Lebanon’s contribution of 15,000 soldiers could be on the north side of the Litani River by the end of the week. But they still must cross the river and try to enforce the central government’s control over Hezbollah areas for the first time in decades.
In Jerusalem, Israeli army officials said they planned to begin handing over some captured positions tomorrow and hoped to complete the withdrawal from Lebanon by next week.
The plans for territory to change hands shows the complexity of the border zone: Israel transferring it to the UN force that then turns it over to Lebanese envoys.
The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it had already begun thinning out its forces in Lebanon, but did not give figures. During a final ground offensive, about 30,000 Israeli soldiers were believed to be in southern Lebanon.
The Security Council blueprint calls for Lebanese forces to join up with another 15,000 soldiers in a strengthened UN-backed military mission. Their job would be to patrol a 18-mile buffer zone from the Litani River to the Israeli border.
Murr said “there will be no other weapons or military presence other than the army” after Lebanese troops move south of the Litani. But he said the army would not ask Hezbollah to hand over its weapons – which remains an extremely volatile issue that no one is yet ready to touch.
Murr said international forces could begin arriving next week to bolster the current 2,000-member UN force in southern Lebanon, which watched helplessly as fighting raged over the past month. In Europe, Italy and France have pledged troops. Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia were among the mostly Muslim nations offering help.
The planning has raced into high gear. Yesterday, the French commander of the UN force in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, said additional troops were needed quickly and any “stray act” could unravel the peace plan.
The peacekeeping also must provide security for a huge reconstruction effort across southern Lebanon, where many villages were in ruins and even basic services such as water and electricity may take weeks to restore.
Cars loaded down with salvaged possessions began pouring into the area just hours after the truce took effect yesterday morning. As they took stock of the wreckage, more refugees were expected to pour in from Syria, Cyprus and other havens during the war.
Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on roads south of the Litani.
Relief agencies worried about how to move supplies across southern Lebanon over bombed roads and others clogged with traffic. UN officials said 24 UN trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes.
Sweden plans to host an international donors’ conference on August 31 to help fund the rebuilding.
In northern Israel – hit by nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets – residents emerged from bomb shelters and slowly trickled back to their homes. A few bathers even lounged on the beach in Haifa, which was hardest hit by the guerrilla attacks.
Yesterday, both Israel and its main backer, the United States, portrayed Hezbollah as the loser – and by extension, its main backers, Iran and Syria. “There’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon,” Bush said.
But Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, claimed a “strategic, historic victory”.
Much of the Arab and Muslim worlds would agree. Hezbollah’s ability to withstand the vastly superior Israeli military – and hit back with deadly ambushes and cross-border rocket volleys – has given it heroic stature.
This could complicate any attempts to disarm or sideline the guerrillas – who also have 14 votes in Lebanon’s legislature and two in the Cabinet.
Nasrallah drove home the point by deriding Lebanese officials who have urged Hezbollah to give up its weapons.
“This is immoral, incorrect and inappropriate,” he said.
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