Haaretz
Av 26, 5766
Following an Israel Defense Forces commando raid near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon
on Saturday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Israel has violated the
UN-backed truce and made him "deeply concerned."
"The
secretary-general is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli
side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council
resolution 1701," a spokesman for Annan said in a statement posted on the
UN Web site.
The statement said that according to UN peacekeepers
in Lebanon, "there have also been several air violations by Israeli
military aircraft."
"All such violations of Security Council
resolution 1701 endanger the fragile calm that was reached after much
negotiation and undermine the authority of the government of Lebanon," the
statement said.
"The secretary-general further calls on all
parties to respect strictly the arms embargo, exercise maximum restraint,
avoid provocative actions and display responsibility in implementing
resolution 1701."
Annan: Europeans undermining creation of
UNIFIL force
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has
criticized European member states for failing to send troops to expand the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as mandated under UN
Resolution 1701.
While states such as Bangladesh and Nepal are
already committed to sending troops, the leading European countries with
the best-equipped armies and logistics operations have been slow to
respond to Annan's urgent pleas for personnel.
Saturday's raid by
the IDF near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, purportedly to prevent arms
deliveries to Hezbollah, is not expected to make the UNIFIL recruitment
operation any easier.
Aides to Annan envision a three-stage
scenario for recruiting reinforcement for UNIFIL, to be completed within
10 to 12 weeks. In the first stage, efforts will be made to send a
contingent of 3,500 soldiers to southern Lebanon by August 28. A month
later, a few thousand more troops will be sent, and by late October the
full complement of 15,000 should be deployed.
In the first report
on the cease-fire he submitted to the Security Council, Annan said Friday
that UNIFIL would not wage war against Israel, Lebanon or Hezbollah. He
reiterated his request that member states provide "desperately needed
soldiers" for the UN peace force.
"It is not expected to achieve
by force what must be realized through negotiation and an internal
Lebanese consensus," Annan told the Security Council.
UN Deputy
Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown, who is in charge of recruiting
reinforcements to UNIFIL, emphasized the force's policing
mandate.
"It is not an offensive force," Brown said. "It's not
going to go in there and attempt large-scale disarmament. Rather it is
going to police the political agreement that triggers disarmament, called
for under the resolution, and therefore it will make a prudent use of
force."
The Lebanese Army continued Saturday to redeploy along the
country's border with Israel. Brigade 10 reached villages close to the
Israeli border in the west, including Shaba and Al-Hiam. Approximately
three battalions were deployed along Lebanon's northern border with Syria
in an effort to prevent cross-border smuggling.
The redeployments
are coordinated with UNIFIL and with the Israel Defense Forces. By
arrangement, the IDF is withdrawing from areas where UNIFIL is deployed,
with the Lebanese Army taking over afterward. There were reports over the
weekend of IDF forces penetrating a few kilometers into Lebanese
territory, where they arrested a young Lebanese man and raided the home of
a religious leader.
Britain's Guardian newspaper published a report
Saturday, based on sources close to senior Lebanese Army officials, that
the army has agreed with Hezbollah that any weapons the militia displays
in public would be confiscated. The army does not intend to raid homes to
search for arms, however.
"The army knows there is a gun in every
household, they are not going to go out and look for them ... What we are
concerned about is the launchers. There is an agreement with Hezbollah
that any weapons found will be handed over," retired general Nizar
Abdel-Kader, a former deputy chief of staff for army personnel who is in
close communication with the army command, told the
Guardian.
According to reports at UN headquarters, Italy has
promised to send a large number of troops to UNIFIL. France, meanwhile,
was roundly criticized on Friday for backing out its commitment of troops
to the force.
Peretz: Raid unlikely to end cease-fire
The Defense Ministry on Saturday said the operation will probably
not bring the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to and end.
The ministry's statement said the raid "does not breach the
cease-fire and was an essential operation that aimed to prevent
Hezbollah's rearming."
"The defense minister congratulates the
fighters who attained the goals in a brave operation that was performed
perfectly," the statement said.
The office of Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert on Saturday said Annan called the prime minister to relay a
complaint from the Lebanese government about the raid.
According
to Olmert's office, the prime minister replied "the raid aimed to prevent
Hezbollah from rearming and from receiving new supplies."
Olmert
also emphasized in the conversation the importance of monitoring the
Syrian-Lebanese border in order to prevent arms smugglings.
Sources in Jerusalem said that Israel views the raid as "a
defensive measure and therefore does not constitute a breach of the
cease-fire." According to the sources, Hezbollah fired at the raiding
force as it returned from its mission, which was completed successfully.
The IDF said Saturday that the raid could "provide Hezbollah with
an incentive to attack the Israeli forces that remain in south
Lebanon."
"The operation will not bring the cease-fire to and end
and will not cause for the renewal of Katyusha fire on communities in the
north," the army said.