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Israel widens Lebanon assault despite UN resolution
By Taher Abu Hamdan
AFP
RASHAYA, Lebanon
Petroleumworld.com 08 12 06
Israeli troops backed by tanks and war planes pushed deep into Lebanon on Saturday in a broad offensive launched despite a unanimous UN Security Council call for an end to the month-old war.
"In line with Wednesday's decision by the security cabinet, the army has launched a ground operation in south Lebanon which is expected to extend up to the Litani river," an army spokesman said.
Israeli combat jets were also in action across other parts of Lebanon, pounding northern roads leading to Syria and destroying a power plant in the major southern city of Sidon.
At least 15 people were killed or injured when fighter-bombers hit a village near the southern port city of Tyre, police said.
Israel plans to send in troops as far as the strategic Litani River, which runs as far as 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border, in a bid to wipe out the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas.
Troops in tanks and armoured vehicles were rolling towards hilltops overlooking the river where they were meeting fierce Hezbollah resistance, Lebanese police said.
Hezbollah also fired a salvo of 20 rockets at Israel, police said.
The Litani has served as a strategic limit for Israel's operations in Lebanon since it first invaded its northern neighbour in 1978.
The operation was launched only hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and the deployment of a 15,000-strong international force in Lebanon.
Resolution 1701, drafted by the United States and France, was passed by the 15-member council after days of bitter wranging at the United Nations over the text and frantic shuttle diplomacy.
It also calls for all Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon after an end to the fighting -- the timing for which has yet to be agreed by Lebanon and Israel.
The agreement calls for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan criticised the time it had taken for world powers to reach a resolution on ending a conflict that has claimed more than 1,200 lives, most of them Lebanese civilians, and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
"I would be remiss if I did not tell you how profoundly disappointed I am that the council did not reach this point much, much earlier," he said.
"All members of this council must be aware that this inability to act sooner has badly shaken the world's faith in its authority and integrity."
With Israel pursuing its military offensive, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would urge his cabinet to accept the resolution when it meets Sunday, according to a government spokesman.
Avi Pazner had said before the resolution was adopted that the military operation "could be stopped at any moment."
The Lebanese cabinet was also to meet Saturday and US officials said it was expected to accept the resolution, which also calls for the release of two Israeli soldiers whose abduction by Hezbollah triggered the war on July 12.
Shortly before the long-awaited resolution was passed, at least seven people were killed when Israeli drones attacked a convoy of Lebanese security forces and civilians who had earlier been under UN escort.
The incident saw three Lebanese army vehicles hit and set ablaze, police said, adding that the victims were mostly civilians. The convoy contained hundreds of Lebanese soldiers and civilians fleeing the Israeli bombardments.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah also continued Friday, leaving 16 Israeli soldiers wounded, military sources said.
Lebanon's acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri expressed profound doubts about the likelihood of the resolution being able to end the war and was scathing in his criticism of Israel.
"For a month now, as the world continues to watch and the international community continues to watch, Israel has besieged and ravaged Lebanon, creating a humanitarian and environmental disaster," he said.
Mitri characterised the weeks of Israeli artillery and aerial bombardments against his country as a "strategy of terror" and a "obscenely disproportionate and unjustifiable" retaliation for Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel.
"The Lebanese are not confident in Israeli distinction between 'defensive' and 'offensive'," he added. "The end to military operations should be unqualified."
Israel's ambassador Dan Gillerman laid the blame for the conflict with Lebanon and said the issue would return to the United Nations if Lebanon failed to implement its side of the proposed ceasefire.
In a warning to Hezbollah's main backers, meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran and Syria to respect the resolution.
"We call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community," she told the Security Council.
She also said "Hezbollah now faces a clear choice between war and peace" in light of the resolution, which Rice said "helped to open a path to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel."
The text authorizes an increase in the current United Interim Force in Lebanon's strength to a maximum of 15,000 troops from its current size of about 1,190 troops.
They will be matched by the 15,000 troops Lebanon plans to send to the south.
The UN force will monitor the cessation of hostilities and any permanent ceasefire and back up Lebanese armed forces as they deploy across the region now dominated by Hezbollah.
The resolution gives the UN force the power to "take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces, and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."
French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said he thought the extra troops could be deployed "very swiftly". A US official said a meeting could be held at the UN headquarters on Saturday for potential troop contributors.
AFP 120551 GMT 08 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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