The Lebanese prime minister rejected a UN ceasefire plan backed
by US President George W. Bush, demanding yesterday that Israel
immediately pull out from southern Lebanon even before a
peacekeeping force arrives to act as a buffer between Hezbollah and
the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's stand, delivered in a tearful
speech to Arab foreign ministers, came on a day in which 49
Lebanese were killed, one of the deadliest days for Lebanese in
nearly four weeks of fighting.
His cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah ministers, voted
unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and
Hezbollah should a ceasefire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw
south of the border. The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon
has the will and ability to assert control over its south, which is
run by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim militia backed by
Syria and Iran.
In Texas, Bush said any ceasefire must prevent Hezbollah from
strengthening its grip in southern Lebanon, asserting "it's time to
address root causes of problems." He urged the UN to work quickly
to approve a US-French draft resolution to stop the
hostilities.
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have sharply intensified in
recent days as ceasefire diplomacy gains traction after nearly a
month of unproductive talks. The ceasefire plan now under scrutiny
at the UN has drawn only lukewarm support in Israel and
vilification in the Arab world. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah has
found an incentive to stop fighting, and both may be trying to gain
advantage on the ground before a ceasefire.
At least 52 people died yesterday on both sides. Hezbollah fired
160 rockets, wounding five Israelis, police and rescue services
said. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in south
Lebanon, the first in an exchange of fire with Hezbollah fighters
and the two others by an anti-tank missile, the Israeli army
said.
With Arab League foreign ministers assembled around a horseshoe
table, the embattled Lebanese leader repeatedly interrupted his
opening address to gather his composure and wipe away tears. The
foreign ministers cast their eyes downward in apparent
embarrassment.
But Saniora's impassioned appeal did not change minds in Israel,
where hospitals in the war zone were working around the clock and
under rocket fire to protect patients from harm -- in some cases
moving them into a basement. The defense minister threatened an
expanded ground operation if diplomacy does not produce results
soon.
"I gave an order that, if within the coming days the diplomatic
process does not reach a conclusion, Israeli forces will carry out
the operations necessary to take control of rocket launching sites
wherever they are," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.
Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Israel could not withdraw
before the arrival of an international force. "The moment we leave,
Hezbollah will return."
Lebanon has been unable for nearly two years to implement a UN
resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
The UN resolution calls for "a full cessation of hostilities"
based on "the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and
the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military
operations."
But it makes no explicit mention of an Israeli withdrawal, and
implicitly allows Israeli defensive operations. Instead, it calls
in the longer-term for a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, which
Hezbollah controls and where Israeli troops are now fighting. Only
Lebanese armed forces and UN-mandated international troops would be
allowed in the zone.
France's UN ambassador, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, promised
yesterday to take into account Lebanon's concerns that the
resolution does not seek the withdrawal of Israeli troops. But he
did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the
text.
Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft
later Monday, in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only
Arab nation on the Security Council, and other members, diplomats
said.
The proposed changes include a call for Israeli forces to pull
out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their
positions to UN peacekeepers. Arab states also want the UN to take
control of the disputed Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in
1967.
"We need today pressure on the international community for a
Security Council resolution that imposes a comprehensive and
permanent ceasefire that provides simultaneously for a complete
Israeli withdrawal," Saniora said at the hastily arranged Arab
League gathering in Beirut.
The Arab foreign ministers announced they would send a
delegation to the UN to represent Lebanon's interests at a meeting
with the Security Council on Tuesday. The timing of the meeting
means the council probably would not adopt a resolution until
Wednesday at the earliest.
Saniora said Lebanon was "stunned" by the devastation of the
Israeli offensive, which had taken "our country back decades. We
are still in the middle of the shock."
Israel, reeling from 15 deaths in Hezbollah rocket strikes a day
earlier, fought back with particular ferocity Monday.
A sunset airstrike on a south Beirut suburb killed at least 10
people in the predominantly Shiite district of Chiah. At least
eight strikes rattled the capital in the one-hour period before
dawn.
To the east, Israeli warplanes staged bombing runs on suspected
Hezbollah positions in the Bekaa Valley, killing at least eight
people and wounding 32, witnesses and civil defense officials
said.
In the south, Israeli commandos helicoptered down to a hill
overlooking Ras al-Biyada at mid-afternoon, fighting Hezbollah in
close combat in a bid to destroy rocket launchers. About 30
commandos battled the guerrillas, but there was no word on
casualties, a Lebanese official said on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Almost all the ground battles have taken place south of the
Litani River, some 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border. The
Israeli army said it declared an indefinite curfew beginning Monday
night on the movement of vehicles south of the Litani. Humanitarian
traffic would be allowed, but other vehicles would be at risk if
they ignored the order, the army said.
The Israelis want to destroy the guerrillas' rocket launchers,
but Hezbollah has other weapons in its arsenal.
The Israeli air force shot down a Hezbollah drone for the first
time Monday, sending its wreckage plunging into the sea, the army
said. Israeli media reported that the unmanned aircraft had the
capacity to carry 90 pounds of explosives, nearly as much as the
more powerful rockets Hezbollah has been firing into Israel. Unlike
the rockets, the drone has a guidance system to for accurate
targeting.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies August 8, 2006)
