Monday, 14 August 2006, 07:02 GMT 08:02 UK
A UN-brokered ceasefire ending more than a month of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, has come into force.
Israeli air strikes continued until 15 minutes before the truce began, hitting areas in the east and south of Lebanon.
Israel has said its troops will remain in Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force can take control.
More than 1,000 Lebanese and 155 Israelis have been killed since the conflict began on 12 July.
As the ceasefire came into effect at 0500 GMT, Israel said it would continue to maintain an air and sea blockade of Lebanon. It also said troops would return fire if they came under attack.
There was no immediate comment after the ceasefire began from Lebanese officials or from Hezbollah.
Israel's cabinet overwhelmingly approved the ceasefire plan on Sunday, but Lebanese cabinet talks about disarming Hezbollah were postponed, as fierce fighting continued.
Overnight Israeli raids killed at least seven Lebanese in the east, and one person died in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon.
Israeli still has thousands of troops deep inside southern Lebanon after expanding its ground offensive throughout the weekend. However, some Israeli forces did start withdrawing as the ceasefire came into effect.
This is not a war of clear-cut positions and front-lines, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from the Lebanese city of Tyre, and the chances of incidents happening despite the truce are very high.
Most of the many thousands of people who have fled the area will be cautious about starting to return until they have seen the ceasefire hold for at least some days, he adds.
The start of the ceasefire was preceded by a violent day on both sides of the border.
At least 23 civilians were killed in Lebanon, while five Israeli soldiers were killed in action, and Hezbollah fired 250 rockets into Israel.
Fragile truce
According to the Haaretz newspaper, Mr Olmert ordered Israeli forces to begin observing the terms of the ceasefire at 0200 on Monday (2300 GMT) after meeting with Defence Minister Amir Peretz and senior army staff.
However, the breakdown of Lebanese government discussions could hamper the implementation of the ceasefire, which calls for 15,000 Lebanese troops to replace a disarmed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, vowed over the weekend that his fighters would respect the ceasefire but would resist any continued Israeli presence in Lebanon after the deal came into force, raising fears of further clashes.
Some Israeli troops will remain in southern Lebanon to hand over to an international force, and few expect the hours and days after the ceasefire begins to be entirely peaceful.
"You can't move from black to white easily - there will be a period of grey," said Major General Benny Gantz, the head of Israel's ground forces.
Overall the language from both sides suggests nervous times ahead, with both sides on tenterhooks, ready to pounce on anything they see as a ceasefire violation, says the BBC's Rob Norris in Jerusalem.
Mark Malloch Brown, the UN's Deputy Secretary General, told the BBC it might take a month before a joint UN-Lebanese force was fully in place.
But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana suggested that the first international troops could be in place within the next week.
He told Reuters that European nations, notably France and Italy, were ready to send troops to the region.
Other countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, were also willing to contribute troops to an international force, Mr Solana said.
CRISIS in the MIDDLE EAST
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Cease-Fire in Effect for Hezbollah, Israel
By ARTHUR MAX, AP
JERUSALEM (Aug. 14) - Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect Monday after a month of warfare that killed more than 900 people, devastated much of south Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters.
A half hour after the cease-fire took hold, Israeli warplanes - a regular fixture in Lebanese skies during the monthlong war - were absent across huge swaths of the country, including the Bekaa Valley, where airstrikes hit about an hour before.
In the southern port city of Tyre, people began to venture out of their homes for the first time since a curfew was imposed on roads there last week. In a Beirut park, hundreds of refugees packed up their belongings to return to homes they fled weeks ago in the city's southern suburbs.
There were no immediate reports of Hezbollah rockets being fired into Israel, a day after it fired more than 250 rockets, the worst daily barrage since fighting started July 12.
The Israeli army said in a statement the military was told not to initiate any action after 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) Monday, but "the forces will do everything to prevent being hit."
In the final hours before the truce, however, Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people, and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.
The airstrikes continued until 15 minutes before the truce went into force, destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's Al-Manar television southeast of Beirut.
The cease-fire was passed by the U.N. Security Council on Friday and approved by the Israeli and Lebanese governments. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also signaled his acceptance.
But Isaac Herzog, a senior minister in the Israeli Cabinet, said it was unlikely all fighting would be silenced immediately. "Experience teaches us that after that a process begins of phased relaxation," in the fighting, he said.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres also said Israel was uncertain the truce would hold. "I believe that it has a chance. I can't say for certain," he said moments before it took effect.
Implementation of the hard-won agreement already was in question Sunday night when the Lebanese Cabinet indefinitely postponed a crucial meeting dealing with plans to send 15,000 soldiers to police Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese media reported that the Cabinet, which approved the cease-fire plan unanimously Saturday, was sharply divided over demands that Hezbollah surrender its weapons in the south. That disagreement was believed to have led to the cancellation of Sunday's meeting.
Lebanese leaders made no public comments.
The deployment of the Lebanese army along Israel's border, with an equal number of U.N. peacekeepers, was a cornerstone of the cease-fire resolution passed Friday by the U.N. Security Council. The forces are supposed to keep Hezbollah fighters out of an 18-mile-wide zone between the border and Lebanon's Litani River.
Officials said Israeli troops would begin leaving southern Lebanon as soon as the Lebanese army and the international force started to deploy in the area. But the military will maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, a military official said.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, signaled willingness Saturday to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are still needed to hammer out the force's makeup and mandate and it was uncertain when it would be in place.
Earlier Monday before the cease-fire, Israeli warplanes attacked a village in eastern Lebanon and the edge of a Palestinian refugee camp, leaving two people dead and nine wounded, security officials said.
One of the raids hit an office of the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General-Command just outside a refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon. One person was killed and three civilians who live near the office were wounded, security officials said.
Israeli missiles also slammed into a minibus on the outskirts of the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek, killing one policeman and wounding six Lebanese soldiers, security officials said.
The Israeli military also dropped leaflets on central Beirut early Monday, warning it would retaliate for any attack launched against it from Lebanon.
One leaflet said Hezbollah serves the interests of its Iranian and Syrian patrons and has "brought destruction, Lebanon against the State of Israel." Addressed to Lebanon's citizens, it said, "Will you be able to pay this price again?"
Some of the 30,000 Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon fought fierce battles with guerrillas Sunday before the cease-fire went into effect. Israel's army said seven soldiers were killed, a day after 24 died in the highest single-day death toll for the army since the conflict began.
Hezbollah reported one of its fighters killed, but did not say when.
Israeli jets pounded a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut with at least 23 missiles, most coming in a two-minute period Sunday.
An Associated Press photographer who reached the area saw the body of a child being removed from the wreckage. TV pictures showed heavy damage appearing to stretch for several hundred yards in all directions in the neighborhood of medium-rise apartment buildings.
Jets also attacked gas stations in the southern port city of Tyre on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, Lebanese officials said.
Two Israeli air raids on houses in the eastern village of Brital killed at least eight people and wounded nearly two dozen, civil defense official Ali Shukur said. More people were feared trapped under the rubble, he said.
Hezbollah fired 250 rockets Sunday, killing an Israeli man and wounding 53 people, rescue officials said. Cars were set afire in the northern city of Haifa.
Israeli officials appealed to residents of the north who fled the rockets not to return before the government determined the situation was safe.
As the fighting persisted, Israel's Cabinet held a stormy debate on the cease-fire, with minister Ophir Pines-Paz criticizing the government's decision to expand its ground offensive ahead of the truce. The Cabinet eventually approved the agreement 24-0, with one abstention.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the cease-fire agreement would ensure that "Hezbollah won't continue to exist as a state within a state."
In addition to authorizing the beefed-up international force in southern Lebanon, the Security Council resolution calls for the Lebanese government to be the only armed force in the country, meaning Hezbollah would have to be disarmed.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the agreement, if implemented, "will lead to a significant change in the rules of the game in Lebanon."
"I'm not naive. ... I live in the Middle East, and I know that sometimes not every decision is implemented. I'm aware of the difficulties. Yet with this I say with full confidence that the Security Council decision is good for Israel," she said.
Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, said Saturday that his guerrillas would abide by the cease-fire resolution, but warned it was "our natural right" to fight any Israeli troops remaining in Lebanon.
The fighting erupted July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an army patrol inside Israel, killing three soldiers and capturing two others. Five more Israelis were killed later in the day trying to rescue their comrades.
Israel then launched an air and ground offensive, and 4** weeks of combat has killed at least 789 people in Lebanon - mostly civilians- and 154 Israelis, including 115 soldiers.
Among the dead soldiers this weekend was Staff Sgt. Uri Grossman, the 20-year-old son of renowned Israeli novelist and peace activist David Grossman. He was killed by an anti-tank missile Saturday, the army said Sunday.
Livni said Israel would not stop trying to win the captured soldiers' release, but would not accept a link between their freedom and Hezbollah's demands that Israel free Lebanese prisoners.
Associated Press writers Ravi Nessman in Jerusalem and Joseph Panossian in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
AP-ES-08-14-06 0226EDT
JERUSALEM (Aug. 14) - Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect Monday after a month of warfare that killed more than 900 people, devastated much of south Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters.
A half hour after the cease-fire took hold, Israeli warplanes - a regular fixture in Lebanese skies during the monthlong war - were absent across huge swaths of the country, including the Bekaa Valley, where airstrikes hit about an hour before.
In the southern port city of Tyre, people began to venture out of their homes for the first time since a curfew was imposed on roads there last week. In a Beirut park, hundreds of refugees packed up their belongings to return to homes they fled weeks ago in the city's southern suburbs.
There were no immediate reports of Hezbollah rockets being fired into Israel, a day after it fired more than 250 rockets, the worst daily barrage since fighting started July 12.
The Israeli army said in a statement the military was told not to initiate any action after 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) Monday, but "the forces will do everything to prevent being hit."
In the final hours before the truce, however, Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people, and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.
The airstrikes continued until 15 minutes before the truce went into force, destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's Al-Manar television southeast of Beirut.
The cease-fire was passed by the U.N. Security Council on Friday and approved by the Israeli and Lebanese governments. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also signaled his acceptance.
But Isaac Herzog, a senior minister in the Israeli Cabinet, said it was unlikely all fighting would be silenced immediately. "Experience teaches us that after that a process begins of phased relaxation," in the fighting, he said.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres also said Israel was uncertain the truce would hold. "I believe that it has a chance. I can't say for certain," he said moments before it took effect.
Implementation of the hard-won agreement already was in question Sunday night when the Lebanese Cabinet indefinitely postponed a crucial meeting dealing with plans to send 15,000 soldiers to police Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese media reported that the Cabinet, which approved the cease-fire plan unanimously Saturday, was sharply divided over demands that Hezbollah surrender its weapons in the south. That disagreement was believed to have led to the cancellation of Sunday's meeting.
Lebanese leaders made no public comments.
The deployment of the Lebanese army along Israel's border, with an equal number of U.N. peacekeepers, was a cornerstone of the cease-fire resolution passed Friday by the U.N. Security Council. The forces are supposed to keep Hezbollah fighters out of an 18-mile-wide zone between the border and Lebanon's Litani River.
Officials said Israeli troops would begin leaving southern Lebanon as soon as the Lebanese army and the international force started to deploy in the area. But the military will maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, a military official said.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, signaled willingness Saturday to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are still needed to hammer out the force's makeup and mandate and it was uncertain when it would be in place.
Earlier Monday before the cease-fire, Israeli warplanes attacked a village in eastern Lebanon and the edge of a Palestinian refugee camp, leaving two people dead and nine wounded, security officials said.
One of the raids hit an office of the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General-Command just outside a refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon. One person was killed and three civilians who live near the office were wounded, security officials said.
Israeli missiles also slammed into a minibus on the outskirts of the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek, killing one policeman and wounding six Lebanese soldiers, security officials said.
The Israeli military also dropped leaflets on central Beirut early Monday, warning it would retaliate for any attack launched against it from Lebanon.
One leaflet said Hezbollah serves the interests of its Iranian and Syrian patrons and has "brought destruction, Lebanon against the State of Israel." Addressed to Lebanon's citizens, it said, "Will you be able to pay this price again?"
Some of the 30,000 Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon fought fierce battles with guerrillas Sunday before the cease-fire went into effect. Israel's army said seven soldiers were killed, a day after 24 died in the highest single-day death toll for the army since the conflict began.
Hezbollah reported one of its fighters killed, but did not say when.
Israeli jets pounded a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut with at least 23 missiles, most coming in a two-minute period Sunday.
An Associated Press photographer who reached the area saw the body of a child being removed from the wreckage. TV pictures showed heavy damage appearing to stretch for several hundred yards in all directions in the neighborhood of medium-rise apartment buildings.
Jets also attacked gas stations in the southern port city of Tyre on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, Lebanese officials said.
Two Israeli air raids on houses in the eastern village of Brital killed at least eight people and wounded nearly two dozen, civil defense official Ali Shukur said. More people were feared trapped under the rubble, he said.
Hezbollah fired 250 rockets Sunday, killing an Israeli man and wounding 53 people, rescue officials said. Cars were set afire in the northern city of Haifa.
Israeli officials appealed to residents of the north who fled the rockets not to return before the government determined the situation was safe.
As the fighting persisted, Israel's Cabinet held a stormy debate on the cease-fire, with minister Ophir Pines-Paz criticizing the government's decision to expand its ground offensive ahead of the truce. The Cabinet eventually approved the agreement 24-0, with one abstention.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the cease-fire agreement would ensure that "Hezbollah won't continue to exist as a state within a state."
In addition to authorizing the beefed-up international force in southern Lebanon, the Security Council resolution calls for the Lebanese government to be the only armed force in the country, meaning Hezbollah would have to be disarmed.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the agreement, if implemented, "will lead to a significant change in the rules of the game in Lebanon."
"I'm not naive. ... I live in the Middle East, and I know that sometimes not every decision is implemented. I'm aware of the difficulties. Yet with this I say with full confidence that the Security Council decision is good for Israel," she said.
Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, said Saturday that his guerrillas would abide by the cease-fire resolution, but warned it was "our natural right" to fight any Israeli troops remaining in Lebanon.
The fighting erupted July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an army patrol inside Israel, killing three soldiers and capturing two others. Five more Israelis were killed later in the day trying to rescue their comrades.
Israel then launched an air and ground offensive, and 4** weeks of combat has killed at least 789 people in Lebanon - mostly civilians- and 154 Israelis, including 115 soldiers.
Among the dead soldiers this weekend was Staff Sgt. Uri Grossman, the 20-year-old son of renowned Israeli novelist and peace activist David Grossman. He was killed by an anti-tank missile Saturday, the army said Sunday.
Livni said Israel would not stop trying to win the captured soldiers' release, but would not accept a link between their freedom and Hezbollah's demands that Israel free Lebanese prisoners.
Associated Press writers Ravi Nessman in Jerusalem and Joseph Panossian in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
AP-ES-08-14-06 0226EDT
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theone666
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Press unconvinced by Mid-East truce
Monday, 14 August 2006, 11:21 GMT 12:21 UK
As the Middle East ceasefire begins, a Lebanese newspaper hopes not to wake up to "the shelling of cannons and rockets", while an Israeli daily warns that Israel may have to "fill the gap by force" if it sees Syria supporting Hezbollah from across the border.
Papers further afield doubt whether Israel will observe the UN resolution calling for the withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon, in what one Iranian paper calls an "unquestionable" victory for Hezbollah.
GHASSAN TUWAYNI IN LEBANON'S AL-NAHAR
We hope that we do not wake up today to the shelling of cannons and rockets, as if the Lebanese-Palestinian sky has turned into a tennis or football playground where increasing competitors exchange bombs and rockets to score points.
LEBANON'S THE DAILY STAR
The coming months will require considerable adaptation on the part of the political class... They can learn a lot from Hezbollah's professional and serious approach - whether in politics, warfare or organisation... Resolution 1701 is far from perfect... However, it does leave ample room for the Lebanese to begin laying the groundwork for a new - but homegrown - Middle East.
TALAL SULAYMAN IN LEBANON'S AL-SAFIR
Let's agree that Lebanon has not been defeated... Let's agree that we have not verified that the Israeli enemy will actually abide by Resolution 1701... Let's agree that the resistance weapon belongs to the whole homeland. It has been only used in confronting Israeli occupation. It has never been used in local political competition. Hezbollah has never brandished it against those it considers its opponents or rivals.
ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHRONOT
The first round is over. Now it is clear to us that we are fighting against Hamas and the Palestinians, against Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. This is a hard, dangerous coalition that lies in wait for us in the coming few years.
AMIR OREN IN ISRAEL'S HAARETZ
What should [IDF soldiers and officers] do if they see an armed Hezbollah fighter? Should they shoot him or wait for him to shoot first?
ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POST
The international community needs to understand that Israel will not repeat the mistake of standing by as Hezbollah rebuilds an arsenal of missiles and other sophisticated weaponry that can threaten us. If the Syrian-Lebanese border is too porous to seal, then either Israel has to do its best to fill the gap by force, or the UN Security Council has to enforce its resolution with sanctions against Syria and, if Tehran is also involved, Iran.
IRAN'S RESALAT
The Zionist regime has never accepted any UN resolutions so far but it desperately needs UN Resolution 1701 to breathe easily again. Hezbollah's victory in the war is absolutely unquestionable.
ABD-AL-BARI ATWAN IN PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI
This will enter history as it registers Israel's first acceptance of a UN resolution from a defeated position and not a victorious one... It will not be easy for the USA and Israel to accept defeat, and lick their wounds, as experience has taught us... They will wreak revenge on Lebanon and its people in a different way.
MEDIA INDONESIA
If the resolution is effective, that is, the ceasefire holds, the world may smile because it turns out that the UN still exists and is useful. On the other hand, for pessimists the resolution is meaningless. Many doubt that Israel would observe the UN resolution.
UTUSAN MALAYSIA
We trust the promise of Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to observe the ceasefire... It is unfortunate for the world that the Tel Aviv regime does not bother about the lives of other people who it regards as enemies.
ABD-AL-FATTAH AWAD IN SYRIA'S AL-THAWRAH
This victory buried the new Middle East project... This is a US defeat... This is the right moment to talk about the need for Israel to abide by all UN resolutions and withdraw from occupied territories. The international community is responsible for forcing Israel to abide by international law.
YEVGENIY SATANOVSKIY IN RUSSIA'S IZVESTIYA
Iran, an Islamic democracy, is becoming a regional superpower with even bigger ambitions and claims. Much greater claims. We are witnessing the birth of a new theocratic parliamentary Islamic empire. The war in Lebanon is the first war of the empire.
THE AUSTRALIAN
Given Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad's apocalyptic tendencies... it would not be wise to put too much stock in the current ceasefire as a long-term solution to problems in the Middle East... If the Iranian leader was a fraction of the reasonable man he now professes to be, he would call off his dogs in southern Lebanon.
LI XUEJIANG IN CHINA'S RENMIN WANG
The UN Security Council actually could not secure any achievements because of US obstruction... So were there really no winners? Not exactly - US arms dealers certainly made ill-gotten gains.
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
As the Middle East ceasefire begins, a Lebanese newspaper hopes not to wake up to "the shelling of cannons and rockets", while an Israeli daily warns that Israel may have to "fill the gap by force" if it sees Syria supporting Hezbollah from across the border.
Papers further afield doubt whether Israel will observe the UN resolution calling for the withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon, in what one Iranian paper calls an "unquestionable" victory for Hezbollah.
GHASSAN TUWAYNI IN LEBANON'S AL-NAHAR
We hope that we do not wake up today to the shelling of cannons and rockets, as if the Lebanese-Palestinian sky has turned into a tennis or football playground where increasing competitors exchange bombs and rockets to score points.
LEBANON'S THE DAILY STAR
The coming months will require considerable adaptation on the part of the political class... They can learn a lot from Hezbollah's professional and serious approach - whether in politics, warfare or organisation... Resolution 1701 is far from perfect... However, it does leave ample room for the Lebanese to begin laying the groundwork for a new - but homegrown - Middle East.
TALAL SULAYMAN IN LEBANON'S AL-SAFIR
Let's agree that Lebanon has not been defeated... Let's agree that we have not verified that the Israeli enemy will actually abide by Resolution 1701... Let's agree that the resistance weapon belongs to the whole homeland. It has been only used in confronting Israeli occupation. It has never been used in local political competition. Hezbollah has never brandished it against those it considers its opponents or rivals.
ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHRONOT
The first round is over. Now it is clear to us that we are fighting against Hamas and the Palestinians, against Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. This is a hard, dangerous coalition that lies in wait for us in the coming few years.
AMIR OREN IN ISRAEL'S HAARETZ
What should [IDF soldiers and officers] do if they see an armed Hezbollah fighter? Should they shoot him or wait for him to shoot first?
ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POST
The international community needs to understand that Israel will not repeat the mistake of standing by as Hezbollah rebuilds an arsenal of missiles and other sophisticated weaponry that can threaten us. If the Syrian-Lebanese border is too porous to seal, then either Israel has to do its best to fill the gap by force, or the UN Security Council has to enforce its resolution with sanctions against Syria and, if Tehran is also involved, Iran.
IRAN'S RESALAT
The Zionist regime has never accepted any UN resolutions so far but it desperately needs UN Resolution 1701 to breathe easily again. Hezbollah's victory in the war is absolutely unquestionable.
ABD-AL-BARI ATWAN IN PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI
This will enter history as it registers Israel's first acceptance of a UN resolution from a defeated position and not a victorious one... It will not be easy for the USA and Israel to accept defeat, and lick their wounds, as experience has taught us... They will wreak revenge on Lebanon and its people in a different way.
MEDIA INDONESIA
If the resolution is effective, that is, the ceasefire holds, the world may smile because it turns out that the UN still exists and is useful. On the other hand, for pessimists the resolution is meaningless. Many doubt that Israel would observe the UN resolution.
UTUSAN MALAYSIA
We trust the promise of Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to observe the ceasefire... It is unfortunate for the world that the Tel Aviv regime does not bother about the lives of other people who it regards as enemies.
ABD-AL-FATTAH AWAD IN SYRIA'S AL-THAWRAH
This victory buried the new Middle East project... This is a US defeat... This is the right moment to talk about the need for Israel to abide by all UN resolutions and withdraw from occupied territories. The international community is responsible for forcing Israel to abide by international law.
YEVGENIY SATANOVSKIY IN RUSSIA'S IZVESTIYA
Iran, an Islamic democracy, is becoming a regional superpower with even bigger ambitions and claims. Much greater claims. We are witnessing the birth of a new theocratic parliamentary Islamic empire. The war in Lebanon is the first war of the empire.
THE AUSTRALIAN
Given Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad's apocalyptic tendencies... it would not be wise to put too much stock in the current ceasefire as a long-term solution to problems in the Middle East... If the Iranian leader was a fraction of the reasonable man he now professes to be, he would call off his dogs in southern Lebanon.
LI XUEJIANG IN CHINA'S RENMIN WANG
The UN Security Council actually could not secure any achievements because of US obstruction... So were there really no winners? Not exactly - US arms dealers certainly made ill-gotten gains.
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
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theone666
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In pictures: Lebanon ceasefire
Monday, 14 August 2006, 14:07 GMT 15:07 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4790761.stm
Monday, 14 August 2006, 14:07 GMT 15:07 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4790761.stm
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theone666
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Truce Takes Effect Between Hezbollah, Israel
By KATHY GANNON, Reuters
BINT JBAIL, Lebanon (Aug. 14) - Lebanese civilians defied an Israeli travel ban and streamed back to their homes in war-ravaged areas Monday after a U.N. cease-fire halted fighting in the monthlong conflict. The Israeli army said that six Hezbollah fighters were killed in three clashes after the cease-fire took effect, highlighting the tensions that could unravel the peace plan.
For the first time in a month, no Hezbollah rockets were fired into northern Israel; still, the Israeli government advised residents who left the area to wait before returning home.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he took sole responsibility for the offensive. In a statement to parliament, Olmert said the cease-fire agreement eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.
He promised to do everything he could to win the return of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid July 12, the even that triggered the monthlong war.
Olmert also sent condolences to those killed in the violence.
Lebanese, Israeli and U.N. officers met on the border to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the region, U.N. spokesman Milos Strugar said.
The meeting, the first involving a Lebanese army officer and a counterpart from the Israeli army since Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, marks the first step in the process of military disengagement as demanded by a U.N. Security Council resolution.
The fighting persisted until the last minutes before the cease-fire took effect Monday morning, with Israel destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's TV station and Hezbollah guerrillas clashing with Israeli forces near the southern city of Tyre and the border village of Kfar Kila.
Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people, and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.
After the cease-fire took effect, lines of cars -- some loaded with mattresses and luggage -- snaked slowly around bomb craters and ruined bridges as residents began heading south to find out what is left of their homes and businesses.
Israel has not lifted its threat to destroy any vehicle on the roads of most of south Lebanon. But Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Monday afternoon that aside from isolated skirmishes with Hezbollah, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors.
In some places in the south, the rubble was still smoldering from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes just before the cease-fire took effect at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT).
"I just want to find my home," said Ahmad Maana, who went back to Kafra, about five miles from the Israeli border, where whole sections of the town were flattened.
In Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, people wrapped their faces with scarves as wind kicked up dust from the wreckage left by Israeli bombardments. Ahmed al-Zein poked through the ruins of his shop.
"This was the most beautiful street in the neighborhood," he said. "Now it's like an earthquake zone."
There were no reports of Israeli strikes on cars Monday -- a sign Israel did not want to risk rekindling the conflict. But at least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that detonated as they returned to their homes in the south, security officials said.
The rush to return came despite a standoff that threatened to keep the cease-fire from taking root. Israeli forces remain in Lebanon, and Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said the militia would consider them legitimate targets until they leave.
The next step in the peace effort -- sending in a peacekeeping mission -- appeared days away.
A Lebanese Cabinet minister told Europe-1 radio in France that Lebanese soldiers could move into the southern part of the country as early as Wednesday. The U.N. plan calls for a joint Lebanese-international force to move south of the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli border, and stand as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah militia.
"The Lebanese army is readying itself along the Litani to cross the river in 48 to 72 hours," said Lebanese Communications Minister Marwan Hamade.
A United Nations force that now has 2,000 troops in south Lebanon is due to be boosted to 15,000 soldiers, and together with a 15,000-man Lebanese army contingent is to take control of the border area.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, signaled willingness to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are needed to hammer out the force's makeup and mandate.
Officials said Israeli troops would begin pulling out as soon as the Lebanese and international troops start deploying to the area. But it appeared Israeli forces were staying put for now. Some exhausted soldiers left Lebanon early Monday and were being replaced by fresh troops.
Israel also would maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli army officials said.
Olmert gave the order Sunday to halt firing as of Monday morning, his spokesman Asaf Shariv said. However, "if someone fires at us we will fire back," he added.
Isaac Herzog, a senior minister in the Israeli Cabinet, said it was unlikely all fighting would be silenced immediately. "Experience teaches us that after that a process begins of phased relaxation," in the fighting, he said.
Just three hours after the cease-fire, Israeli troops fired on a group of Hezbollah militiamen approaching "in a threatening way," the army said. One Hezbollah fighter was hit, but it was not known if he was killed or wounded.
Israeli troops later shot a Hezbollah fighter aiming his rifle at them near the village of Ghanduriya. The army did not say if the man was killed.
No fighting was reported elsewhere.
In Bint Jbail, a border town that was the scene of heavy ground battles between guerrillas and Israeli soldiers, an entire swath of the town center was flattened and rows of cars sat incinerated in the streets. An Israeli tank was parked on the road outside the town.
In Beirut, street life cautiously returned. Traffic was heavier and some stores reopened.
Thousands of vehicles, meanwhile, crept south along bomb-blasted highways. At a key intersection, traffic was backed up for more than a half mile as police tried to direct vehicles around bomb craters.
Many parts of southern Lebanon have been virtually deserted for weeks after a wave of refugees headed north to escape the fighting.
Similar scenes took place in northern Israel, which had been hit by more than 4,000 Hezbollah rockets that forced people to flee or huddle in bomb shelters. Some Israelis cautiously tried to sample small bits of normal life: shopping for groceries or taking a stroll in the sun after weeks in shelters.
In Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and a frequent Hezbollah target, stores that had been closed for weeks began to reopen, and a few people returned to the beaches.
However, in Kiryat Shemona, where more than half the 22,000 residents fled some 700 Hezbollah rocket attacks, the streets were mostly empty. Residents stirred from their bomb shelters, but there was no influx of returning refugees.
"People are still scared," said Haim Biton, 42, predicting that things would not get back to normal soon. "You don't know what's going to happen."
"The city is still in a coma," said Shoshi Bar-Sheshet, the deputy manager of a mortgage bank. Getting back to normal, she said, "doesn't happen overnight."
Both Hezbollah and Israel claimed they had come out ahead in the conflict.
Hezbollah distributed leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the fighting, which began July 12 when guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Hezbollah's "state within a state" had been destroyed, along with its ability to fire at Israeli soldiers across the border.
Peretz said that as a result of the war Islamic extremists have been weakened, opening a window for negotiations with Lebanon and for renewing talks with Palestinians.
Lebanon said nearly 791 people were killed since the fighting began. Israel said 116 soldiers and 39 civilians were killed in fighting or from Hezbollah rockets.
Associated Press writers Arthur Max in Jerusalem and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
08-14-06 09:59 EDT
BINT JBAIL, Lebanon (Aug. 14) - Lebanese civilians defied an Israeli travel ban and streamed back to their homes in war-ravaged areas Monday after a U.N. cease-fire halted fighting in the monthlong conflict. The Israeli army said that six Hezbollah fighters were killed in three clashes after the cease-fire took effect, highlighting the tensions that could unravel the peace plan.
For the first time in a month, no Hezbollah rockets were fired into northern Israel; still, the Israeli government advised residents who left the area to wait before returning home.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he took sole responsibility for the offensive. In a statement to parliament, Olmert said the cease-fire agreement eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.
He promised to do everything he could to win the return of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid July 12, the even that triggered the monthlong war.
Olmert also sent condolences to those killed in the violence.
Lebanese, Israeli and U.N. officers met on the border to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the region, U.N. spokesman Milos Strugar said.
The meeting, the first involving a Lebanese army officer and a counterpart from the Israeli army since Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, marks the first step in the process of military disengagement as demanded by a U.N. Security Council resolution.
The fighting persisted until the last minutes before the cease-fire took effect Monday morning, with Israel destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's TV station and Hezbollah guerrillas clashing with Israeli forces near the southern city of Tyre and the border village of Kfar Kila.
Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people, and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.
After the cease-fire took effect, lines of cars -- some loaded with mattresses and luggage -- snaked slowly around bomb craters and ruined bridges as residents began heading south to find out what is left of their homes and businesses.
Israel has not lifted its threat to destroy any vehicle on the roads of most of south Lebanon. But Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Monday afternoon that aside from isolated skirmishes with Hezbollah, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors.
In some places in the south, the rubble was still smoldering from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes just before the cease-fire took effect at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT).
"I just want to find my home," said Ahmad Maana, who went back to Kafra, about five miles from the Israeli border, where whole sections of the town were flattened.
In Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, people wrapped their faces with scarves as wind kicked up dust from the wreckage left by Israeli bombardments. Ahmed al-Zein poked through the ruins of his shop.
"This was the most beautiful street in the neighborhood," he said. "Now it's like an earthquake zone."
There were no reports of Israeli strikes on cars Monday -- a sign Israel did not want to risk rekindling the conflict. But at least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that detonated as they returned to their homes in the south, security officials said.
The rush to return came despite a standoff that threatened to keep the cease-fire from taking root. Israeli forces remain in Lebanon, and Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said the militia would consider them legitimate targets until they leave.
The next step in the peace effort -- sending in a peacekeeping mission -- appeared days away.
A Lebanese Cabinet minister told Europe-1 radio in France that Lebanese soldiers could move into the southern part of the country as early as Wednesday. The U.N. plan calls for a joint Lebanese-international force to move south of the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli border, and stand as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah militia.
"The Lebanese army is readying itself along the Litani to cross the river in 48 to 72 hours," said Lebanese Communications Minister Marwan Hamade.
A United Nations force that now has 2,000 troops in south Lebanon is due to be boosted to 15,000 soldiers, and together with a 15,000-man Lebanese army contingent is to take control of the border area.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, signaled willingness to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are needed to hammer out the force's makeup and mandate.
Officials said Israeli troops would begin pulling out as soon as the Lebanese and international troops start deploying to the area. But it appeared Israeli forces were staying put for now. Some exhausted soldiers left Lebanon early Monday and were being replaced by fresh troops.
Israel also would maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli army officials said.
Olmert gave the order Sunday to halt firing as of Monday morning, his spokesman Asaf Shariv said. However, "if someone fires at us we will fire back," he added.
Isaac Herzog, a senior minister in the Israeli Cabinet, said it was unlikely all fighting would be silenced immediately. "Experience teaches us that after that a process begins of phased relaxation," in the fighting, he said.
Just three hours after the cease-fire, Israeli troops fired on a group of Hezbollah militiamen approaching "in a threatening way," the army said. One Hezbollah fighter was hit, but it was not known if he was killed or wounded.
Israeli troops later shot a Hezbollah fighter aiming his rifle at them near the village of Ghanduriya. The army did not say if the man was killed.
No fighting was reported elsewhere.
In Bint Jbail, a border town that was the scene of heavy ground battles between guerrillas and Israeli soldiers, an entire swath of the town center was flattened and rows of cars sat incinerated in the streets. An Israeli tank was parked on the road outside the town.
In Beirut, street life cautiously returned. Traffic was heavier and some stores reopened.
Thousands of vehicles, meanwhile, crept south along bomb-blasted highways. At a key intersection, traffic was backed up for more than a half mile as police tried to direct vehicles around bomb craters.
Many parts of southern Lebanon have been virtually deserted for weeks after a wave of refugees headed north to escape the fighting.
Similar scenes took place in northern Israel, which had been hit by more than 4,000 Hezbollah rockets that forced people to flee or huddle in bomb shelters. Some Israelis cautiously tried to sample small bits of normal life: shopping for groceries or taking a stroll in the sun after weeks in shelters.
In Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and a frequent Hezbollah target, stores that had been closed for weeks began to reopen, and a few people returned to the beaches.
However, in Kiryat Shemona, where more than half the 22,000 residents fled some 700 Hezbollah rocket attacks, the streets were mostly empty. Residents stirred from their bomb shelters, but there was no influx of returning refugees.
"People are still scared," said Haim Biton, 42, predicting that things would not get back to normal soon. "You don't know what's going to happen."
"The city is still in a coma," said Shoshi Bar-Sheshet, the deputy manager of a mortgage bank. Getting back to normal, she said, "doesn't happen overnight."
Both Hezbollah and Israel claimed they had come out ahead in the conflict.
Hezbollah distributed leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the fighting, which began July 12 when guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Hezbollah's "state within a state" had been destroyed, along with its ability to fire at Israeli soldiers across the border.
Peretz said that as a result of the war Islamic extremists have been weakened, opening a window for negotiations with Lebanon and for renewing talks with Palestinians.
Lebanon said nearly 791 people were killed since the fighting began. Israel said 116 soldiers and 39 civilians were killed in fighting or from Hezbollah rockets.
Associated Press writers Arthur Max in Jerusalem and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
08-14-06 09:59 EDT
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theone666
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Israel warns foes despite truce
Monday, 14 August 2006, 20:30 GMT 21:30 UK
Israel will pursue Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon despite the ceasefire ending the month-long conflict, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told parliament.
During a stormy session, he defended his conduct of the war saying Hezbollah had been crippled. However the group's leader denied this and claimed victory.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the ceasefire, which came into force early on Monday, seemed to be holding.
Thousands of people are returning to southern Lebanon following the truce.
Fighting ended at 0500 GMT, although Israel said it had killed at least four Hezbollah fighters in later clashes.
Israeli officials told the AFP news agency that in each case soldiers had opened fire "when armed men tried to approach" and had not broken the terms of the UN ceasefire.
In his speech to parliament, Mr Olmert said Hezbollah's "state within a state" and "terror organisation" in southern Lebanon had been destroyed.
However he added that the group's leaders would "not be left alone".
"We will continue pursuing them anywhere, all the time and we do not intend to apologise or ask anyone's permission," he added.
Mr Olmert - who was heckled by some MPs - admitted Israel had made mistakes but took full responsibility for the war.
He advised patience for his critics, who believe the war did not achieve Israel's original goal of dismantling Hezbollah.
Patience
The prime minister also said his government would work "with all the means at our disposal" to secure the release of the two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked the conflict on 12 July.
Lebanese and Israeli military commanders are discussing their fate, an Israeli political source told the BBC.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, for his part, said his side had achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.
He also promised during a videotaped speech on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV that the group would help Lebanese victims rebuild their homes.
Later on Monday, US President George W Bush blamed Hezbollah and its "state sponsors, Iran and Syria" for the bloodshed in Lebanon.
He said the war had been "part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror".
Mr Bush also vowed to continue to promote democracy in the Middle East. "The freedom agenda will defeat terror," he said.
Shattered
Mr Annan said the truce appeared to be holding and urged both sides to "continue to consolidate the cessation".
Israel has said its troops will remain in Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force can take control, and that its forces would return fire if attacked.
Roads leading from Beirut and Sidon were jammed with the cars of people returning to inspect their properties and homes.
The BBC's Jim Muir in the town of Bint Jbeil, the site of some of the fiercest fighting, described a scene of devastation with few signs of life.
The body of a woman wrapped in plastic had been left in a shattered building for two weeks, our correspondent added.
The only local residents he found were one man and his disabled wife who had been sheltering in the hospital.
Sweden is to host an international aid conference to raise funds for Lebanon. About 60 governments have been invited to attend the 31 August meeting in Stockholm.
Some 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, 114 of them soldiers, have died in the 34-day conflict.
Israel will pursue Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon despite the ceasefire ending the month-long conflict, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told parliament.
During a stormy session, he defended his conduct of the war saying Hezbollah had been crippled. However the group's leader denied this and claimed victory.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the ceasefire, which came into force early on Monday, seemed to be holding.
Thousands of people are returning to southern Lebanon following the truce.
Fighting ended at 0500 GMT, although Israel said it had killed at least four Hezbollah fighters in later clashes.
Israeli officials told the AFP news agency that in each case soldiers had opened fire "when armed men tried to approach" and had not broken the terms of the UN ceasefire.
In his speech to parliament, Mr Olmert said Hezbollah's "state within a state" and "terror organisation" in southern Lebanon had been destroyed.
However he added that the group's leaders would "not be left alone".
"We will continue pursuing them anywhere, all the time and we do not intend to apologise or ask anyone's permission," he added.
Mr Olmert - who was heckled by some MPs - admitted Israel had made mistakes but took full responsibility for the war.
He advised patience for his critics, who believe the war did not achieve Israel's original goal of dismantling Hezbollah.
Patience
The prime minister also said his government would work "with all the means at our disposal" to secure the release of the two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked the conflict on 12 July.
Lebanese and Israeli military commanders are discussing their fate, an Israeli political source told the BBC.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, for his part, said his side had achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.
He also promised during a videotaped speech on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV that the group would help Lebanese victims rebuild their homes.
Later on Monday, US President George W Bush blamed Hezbollah and its "state sponsors, Iran and Syria" for the bloodshed in Lebanon.
He said the war had been "part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror".
Mr Bush also vowed to continue to promote democracy in the Middle East. "The freedom agenda will defeat terror," he said.
Shattered
Mr Annan said the truce appeared to be holding and urged both sides to "continue to consolidate the cessation".
Israel has said its troops will remain in Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force can take control, and that its forces would return fire if attacked.
Roads leading from Beirut and Sidon were jammed with the cars of people returning to inspect their properties and homes.
The BBC's Jim Muir in the town of Bint Jbeil, the site of some of the fiercest fighting, described a scene of devastation with few signs of life.
The body of a woman wrapped in plastic had been left in a shattered building for two weeks, our correspondent added.
The only local residents he found were one man and his disabled wife who had been sheltering in the hospital.
Sweden is to host an international aid conference to raise funds for Lebanon. About 60 governments have been invited to attend the 31 August meeting in Stockholm.
Some 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, 114 of them soldiers, have died in the 34-day conflict.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
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- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Red Cross issues Lebanon warning
Monday, 14 August 2006, 22:23 GMT 23:23 UK
The head of the International Red Cross has warned both the Israeli army and Hezbollah that they have a duty under international law to protect civilians.
The urgency with which refugees are returning to south Lebanon after a ceasefire has surprised aid agencies.
But the ICRC's Jakob Kellenberger said that civilians were again paying the price of conflict.
"The situation in the region remains extremely difficult despite these positive developments," he said.
Some 10,000 refugees returned to Lebanon from Syria in the first eight hours of the truce which began at 0500 GMT on Monday, according to a Syrian estimate quoted by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
"They were straight out of the starting blocks on this one," said UNHCR spokesman Jack Redden at the border.
"We were getting people that had left before the cease-fire so that they would be first across the border as it started. There are people that left at dawn from Damascus to get across."
But as traffic jams brought new chaos to the bomb-damaged roads, the spokesman said he expected most of the 180,000 Lebanese who sought shelter in Syria would wait to see if the truce worked.
Relief task
Mr Kellenberger said the humanitarian needs in Lebanon remained urgent despite the beginning of the truce.
During a visit to Lebanon, he had had to walk into the southern city of Tyre because the roads and bridges had been bombed.
"It cannot be underlined enough - the civilian population has to be respected," he said.
"All the rules applicable to the protection of the civilian population remain extremely important and it remains extremely important to insist on the respect of these rules."
The Red Cross says it plans to assist 200,000 displaced people in Lebanon at least until the end of the year, and to provide water and sanitation for up to 1m people.
Mr Kellenberger also said he had asked Hezbollah directly for permission to visit the two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the conflict.
The answer so far, however, has been "No", says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.
Dangers remain
United Nations officials say that with a ceasefire in place in Lebanon, they will no longer comply with what they describe as the lengthy and complicated process of obtaining clearance from Israel to deliver humanitarian aid.
David Shearer, the UN coordinator in Lebanon, said there could no longer be "no-go areas" in the country.
"We're launching a massive relief effort to try and bring supplies and equipment and the things that we need to help support those people as they go south," he said.
Aid groups have complained that Israel's ban on road traffic in southern Lebanon is impeding efforts to get supplies to the area, he added.
Mr Shearer said southern Lebanon would remain dangerous for some time to come because of unexploded shells and cluster bombs.
According to the AFP news agency, two civilians were killed in separate villages in south Lebanon on Monday by cluster bombs, which go off when touched or moved.
The World Food Programme has sent two convoys to the city of Tyre and the Red Cross is distributing supplies which it brought into Tyre by ship.
Though the delivery of supplies has been slow, aid workers have managed for the first time to reach many villages on the border with Israel.
Sweden is to host an international aid conference to raise funds for Lebanon at the end of August in Stockholm.
The head of the International Red Cross has warned both the Israeli army and Hezbollah that they have a duty under international law to protect civilians.
The urgency with which refugees are returning to south Lebanon after a ceasefire has surprised aid agencies.
But the ICRC's Jakob Kellenberger said that civilians were again paying the price of conflict.
"The situation in the region remains extremely difficult despite these positive developments," he said.
Some 10,000 refugees returned to Lebanon from Syria in the first eight hours of the truce which began at 0500 GMT on Monday, according to a Syrian estimate quoted by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
"They were straight out of the starting blocks on this one," said UNHCR spokesman Jack Redden at the border.
"We were getting people that had left before the cease-fire so that they would be first across the border as it started. There are people that left at dawn from Damascus to get across."
But as traffic jams brought new chaos to the bomb-damaged roads, the spokesman said he expected most of the 180,000 Lebanese who sought shelter in Syria would wait to see if the truce worked.
Relief task
Mr Kellenberger said the humanitarian needs in Lebanon remained urgent despite the beginning of the truce.
During a visit to Lebanon, he had had to walk into the southern city of Tyre because the roads and bridges had been bombed.
"It cannot be underlined enough - the civilian population has to be respected," he said.
"All the rules applicable to the protection of the civilian population remain extremely important and it remains extremely important to insist on the respect of these rules."
The Red Cross says it plans to assist 200,000 displaced people in Lebanon at least until the end of the year, and to provide water and sanitation for up to 1m people.
Mr Kellenberger also said he had asked Hezbollah directly for permission to visit the two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the conflict.
The answer so far, however, has been "No", says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.
Dangers remain
United Nations officials say that with a ceasefire in place in Lebanon, they will no longer comply with what they describe as the lengthy and complicated process of obtaining clearance from Israel to deliver humanitarian aid.
David Shearer, the UN coordinator in Lebanon, said there could no longer be "no-go areas" in the country.
"We're launching a massive relief effort to try and bring supplies and equipment and the things that we need to help support those people as they go south," he said.
Aid groups have complained that Israel's ban on road traffic in southern Lebanon is impeding efforts to get supplies to the area, he added.
Mr Shearer said southern Lebanon would remain dangerous for some time to come because of unexploded shells and cluster bombs.
According to the AFP news agency, two civilians were killed in separate villages in south Lebanon on Monday by cluster bombs, which go off when touched or moved.
The World Food Programme has sent two convoys to the city of Tyre and the Red Cross is distributing supplies which it brought into Tyre by ship.
Though the delivery of supplies has been slow, aid workers have managed for the first time to reach many villages on the border with Israel.
Sweden is to host an international aid conference to raise funds for Lebanon at the end of August in Stockholm.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Despite Rockets, Cease-Fire Holding
By STEVEN R. HURST, AP
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Aug. 14) - Tens of thousands of Lebanese jammed bomb-cratered roads Monday as they returned to still-smoldering scenes of destruction after a tenuous cease-fire ended 34 days of vicious combat between Israel and Hezbollah.
Highlighting the fragility of the peace, Hezbollah guerrillas fired at least 10 Katyusha rockets that landed in southern Lebanon early Tuesday, the Israeli army said, adding that nobody was injured. The army said that none of the rockets, which were fired over a two-hour period, had crossed the border and so it had not responded.
Lines of cars - some loaded with mattresses and luggage - snaked slowly around huge holes in the roads and ruined bridges. Many Lebanese expressed shock at finding houses and villages flattened in more than a month of Israeli air and artillery strikes.
Hezbollah fighters hugged each other and celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted in Beirut as the Islamic militant group's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed a "strategic, historic victory."
But Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert also claimed success, saying the offensive eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah group and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.
In northern Israel, residents emerged from bomb shelters, hopeful that the barrage of nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets that had rained down on towns and villages since July 12 had ended - for now. Stores shuttered for weeks reopened and some people returned to the beaches in Haifa, which suffered most from guerrilla attacks.
President Bush said Monday that Hezbollah guerillas suffered a defeat at the hands of Israel and he blamed the guerrilla group for the devastation. "There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," he said.
The conflict left nearly 950 people dead - 791 in Lebanon and 155 on the Israeli side, according to official counts. An estimated 500,000 Israelis and about 1 million Lebanese, or a quarter of the population, were displaced in the conflict, government officials said.
The truce that took effect at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) largely held through its first day, although skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah left six guerrillas killed as both sides promised to retaliate when placed on the defensive.
The odds of a durable end to the fighting depended on the quick deployment of the Lebanese army and an international force into the 18-mile-deep band of south Lebanon between the Litani River and the Israeli frontier.
A United Nations force that now has 2,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon is to grow to 15,000 troops, and Lebanon's army is to send in a 15,000-man contingent.
Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr said Lebanese forces would be ready to deploy north of the Litani River this week, but that was unlikely to satisfy Israel, which wants a force along the border to rein in Hezbollah.
Murr also said the current U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL would assume positions vacated by Israel before handing them over to the Lebanese army, and he expected international troops to begin arriving within the next 10 days.
The French commander of UNIFIL, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, told The Associated Press that additional troops were needed quickly because the stability of the cease-fire was fragile. The region is "not safe from a provocation, or a stray act, that could undermine everything," he said.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, have signaled willingness to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are needed on the force's makeup and mandate. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Italy's troops could be ready within two weeks.
In Jerusalem, officials said Israeli troops would begin pulling out as soon as the Lebanese and international troops start deploying to the area. But it appeared Israeli forces were staying put for now. Some exhausted soldiers left early Monday and were being replaced by fresh troops.
While Israel claimed to have flooded south Lebanon with 30,000 soldiers in its final offensive, an AP reporter who drove Monday from Tyre to the Israeli border and through several destroyed villages along the frontier saw only one Israeli tank.
Humanitarian groups sent convoys of food, water and medical supplies into the south, but the clogged roads slowed the effort. U.N. officials said 24 U.N. trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes.
Israel urged Lebanese to stay out of the conflict zone in south Lebanon, saying it was still dangerous because Israeli and Hezbollah fighters were in the area. "Of course, the army would not open fire on civilians in the area," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman.
The rush to return home came despite a standoff that threatened to keep the cease-fire from taking root. Israel threatened to retaliate against any attacks, while Nasrallah said the militia would consider Israeli troops legitimate targets until they leave.
But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that aside from the isolated skirmishes that killed six Hezbollah fighters, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors. Both sides appeared under strict orders to avoid confrontation.
The slain militants "were very close, they were armed, and they posed a danger to the troops," Dallal said. "We're going to shoot anybody who poses an imminent threat to the troops."
Hezbollah was believed to have suffered heavy casualties - it reported only 68 fighters killed, but Israel said the number was closer to 400.
Olmert also claimed his army largely destroyed the Hezbollah arsenal in the conflict, which began July 12 when militants from the Shiite Muslim group crossed the border and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
But the guerrilla organization emerged with far broader support in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world than it had going into the fight, meaning it will be harder for the Lebanese government to enforce international demands for Hezbollah's disarmament.
Now was not the time to debate the disarmament of his guerrilla fighters, Nasrallah asserted confidently after his forces stood toe-to-toe against Israel's vaunted military, able to fire rockets to the very end and blunt attempts by an overwhelming Israeli ground force to wipe out guerrilla positions.
"Who will defend Lebanon in case of a new Israeli offensive?" he asked, sitting in front of Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. "The Lebanese army and international troops are incapable of protecting Lebanon."
But Nasrallah said he was open to dialogue about Hezbollah's weapons at the appropriate time. He also credited his group's weapons with proving to Israel that "war with Lebanon will not be a picnic. It will be very costly."
The militant Shiite Muslim group, sponsored by Iran and Syria, claimed to have killed vast numbers of opponents. The Israelis said they lost 118 in combat.
The civilian toll was enormous - 692 in Lebanon and 39 in Israel - and damage to Lebanese infrastructure was sure to run into billions of dollars.
Whole towns and villages in the south were largely flattened, especially along the border with Israel and a broad swath of the Hezbollah dominated suburbs in south Beirut. Bridges and roads throughout the country were destroyed and the Beirut airport remained closed. Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on the roads south of the Litani.
Jamila Marina screamed and collapsed when she saw her destroyed home in Yaroun, a mainly Christian village a few miles south of hard-hit Bint Jbail.
"Why did this happen. What have we done to deserve this!" she yelled.
Rosetta Ajaka, also just returned, found her badly damaged home had been used as a Hezbollah outpost. A rocket launcher still sat in the front garden.
The political fallout was significant.
The unity that has governed Israeli politics was expected to quickly fracture. Three Knesset members were ejected from the parliament during an Olmert speech Monday for heckling and several others had called for a commission of inquiry into the offensive.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora faced the threat of a government collapse as well, given the task of disarming Hezbollah fighters. The group has two Cabinet ministers and 14 votes in Parliament and could easily undo government unanimity when a vote is taken on the Hezbollah disarmament issue - as is demanded by the international community.
The dangers for Lebanese civilians were great as well. At least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that exploded as they returned to their homes in south Lebanon, security officials said.
Many of those filtering back in looked dazed, unable to recognize their neighborhoods.
"I just want to find my house," said Ahmad Maana, an old man who wandered back on foot after spending more than a week hiding in the nearby hills.
Hezbollah fighters - rarely seen in earlier visits to southern villages - also appeared more openly.
Two young men in khakis were spotted carrying semiautomatic rifles, and others talked into two-way radios. A few carloads of young men screeched into Kafra and jumped out of their cars, kissing waiting comrades on each cheek.
AP-ES-08-14-06 2018EDT
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Aug. 14) - Tens of thousands of Lebanese jammed bomb-cratered roads Monday as they returned to still-smoldering scenes of destruction after a tenuous cease-fire ended 34 days of vicious combat between Israel and Hezbollah.
Highlighting the fragility of the peace, Hezbollah guerrillas fired at least 10 Katyusha rockets that landed in southern Lebanon early Tuesday, the Israeli army said, adding that nobody was injured. The army said that none of the rockets, which were fired over a two-hour period, had crossed the border and so it had not responded.
Lines of cars - some loaded with mattresses and luggage - snaked slowly around huge holes in the roads and ruined bridges. Many Lebanese expressed shock at finding houses and villages flattened in more than a month of Israeli air and artillery strikes.
Hezbollah fighters hugged each other and celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted in Beirut as the Islamic militant group's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed a "strategic, historic victory."
But Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert also claimed success, saying the offensive eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah group and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.
In northern Israel, residents emerged from bomb shelters, hopeful that the barrage of nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets that had rained down on towns and villages since July 12 had ended - for now. Stores shuttered for weeks reopened and some people returned to the beaches in Haifa, which suffered most from guerrilla attacks.
President Bush said Monday that Hezbollah guerillas suffered a defeat at the hands of Israel and he blamed the guerrilla group for the devastation. "There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," he said.
The conflict left nearly 950 people dead - 791 in Lebanon and 155 on the Israeli side, according to official counts. An estimated 500,000 Israelis and about 1 million Lebanese, or a quarter of the population, were displaced in the conflict, government officials said.
The truce that took effect at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) largely held through its first day, although skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah left six guerrillas killed as both sides promised to retaliate when placed on the defensive.
The odds of a durable end to the fighting depended on the quick deployment of the Lebanese army and an international force into the 18-mile-deep band of south Lebanon between the Litani River and the Israeli frontier.
A United Nations force that now has 2,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon is to grow to 15,000 troops, and Lebanon's army is to send in a 15,000-man contingent.
Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr said Lebanese forces would be ready to deploy north of the Litani River this week, but that was unlikely to satisfy Israel, which wants a force along the border to rein in Hezbollah.
Murr also said the current U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL would assume positions vacated by Israel before handing them over to the Lebanese army, and he expected international troops to begin arriving within the next 10 days.
The French commander of UNIFIL, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, told The Associated Press that additional troops were needed quickly because the stability of the cease-fire was fragile. The region is "not safe from a provocation, or a stray act, that could undermine everything," he said.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, have signaled willingness to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are needed on the force's makeup and mandate. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Italy's troops could be ready within two weeks.
In Jerusalem, officials said Israeli troops would begin pulling out as soon as the Lebanese and international troops start deploying to the area. But it appeared Israeli forces were staying put for now. Some exhausted soldiers left early Monday and were being replaced by fresh troops.
While Israel claimed to have flooded south Lebanon with 30,000 soldiers in its final offensive, an AP reporter who drove Monday from Tyre to the Israeli border and through several destroyed villages along the frontier saw only one Israeli tank.
Humanitarian groups sent convoys of food, water and medical supplies into the south, but the clogged roads slowed the effort. U.N. officials said 24 U.N. trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes.
Israel urged Lebanese to stay out of the conflict zone in south Lebanon, saying it was still dangerous because Israeli and Hezbollah fighters were in the area. "Of course, the army would not open fire on civilians in the area," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman.
The rush to return home came despite a standoff that threatened to keep the cease-fire from taking root. Israel threatened to retaliate against any attacks, while Nasrallah said the militia would consider Israeli troops legitimate targets until they leave.
But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that aside from the isolated skirmishes that killed six Hezbollah fighters, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors. Both sides appeared under strict orders to avoid confrontation.
The slain militants "were very close, they were armed, and they posed a danger to the troops," Dallal said. "We're going to shoot anybody who poses an imminent threat to the troops."
Hezbollah was believed to have suffered heavy casualties - it reported only 68 fighters killed, but Israel said the number was closer to 400.
Olmert also claimed his army largely destroyed the Hezbollah arsenal in the conflict, which began July 12 when militants from the Shiite Muslim group crossed the border and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
But the guerrilla organization emerged with far broader support in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world than it had going into the fight, meaning it will be harder for the Lebanese government to enforce international demands for Hezbollah's disarmament.
Now was not the time to debate the disarmament of his guerrilla fighters, Nasrallah asserted confidently after his forces stood toe-to-toe against Israel's vaunted military, able to fire rockets to the very end and blunt attempts by an overwhelming Israeli ground force to wipe out guerrilla positions.
"Who will defend Lebanon in case of a new Israeli offensive?" he asked, sitting in front of Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. "The Lebanese army and international troops are incapable of protecting Lebanon."
But Nasrallah said he was open to dialogue about Hezbollah's weapons at the appropriate time. He also credited his group's weapons with proving to Israel that "war with Lebanon will not be a picnic. It will be very costly."
The militant Shiite Muslim group, sponsored by Iran and Syria, claimed to have killed vast numbers of opponents. The Israelis said they lost 118 in combat.
The civilian toll was enormous - 692 in Lebanon and 39 in Israel - and damage to Lebanese infrastructure was sure to run into billions of dollars.
Whole towns and villages in the south were largely flattened, especially along the border with Israel and a broad swath of the Hezbollah dominated suburbs in south Beirut. Bridges and roads throughout the country were destroyed and the Beirut airport remained closed. Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on the roads south of the Litani.
Jamila Marina screamed and collapsed when she saw her destroyed home in Yaroun, a mainly Christian village a few miles south of hard-hit Bint Jbail.
"Why did this happen. What have we done to deserve this!" she yelled.
Rosetta Ajaka, also just returned, found her badly damaged home had been used as a Hezbollah outpost. A rocket launcher still sat in the front garden.
The political fallout was significant.
The unity that has governed Israeli politics was expected to quickly fracture. Three Knesset members were ejected from the parliament during an Olmert speech Monday for heckling and several others had called for a commission of inquiry into the offensive.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora faced the threat of a government collapse as well, given the task of disarming Hezbollah fighters. The group has two Cabinet ministers and 14 votes in Parliament and could easily undo government unanimity when a vote is taken on the Hezbollah disarmament issue - as is demanded by the international community.
The dangers for Lebanese civilians were great as well. At least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that exploded as they returned to their homes in south Lebanon, security officials said.
Many of those filtering back in looked dazed, unable to recognize their neighborhoods.
"I just want to find my house," said Ahmad Maana, an old man who wandered back on foot after spending more than a week hiding in the nearby hills.
Hezbollah fighters - rarely seen in earlier visits to southern villages - also appeared more openly.
Two young men in khakis were spotted carrying semiautomatic rifles, and others talked into two-way radios. A few carloads of young men screeched into Kafra and jumped out of their cars, kissing waiting comrades on each cheek.
AP-ES-08-14-06 2018EDT
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US 'knew of Israel bombing plan'
Monday, 14 August 2006, 23:17 GMT 00:17 UK
Israel and the United States were in close contact about Israel's war on Hezbollah long before it began, a US investigative journalist has claimed.
"Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah, and shared it with Bush administration officials, well before" 12 July, Seymour Hersh wrote.
The article in the New Yorker magazine relies on many anonymous sources and includes denials from US officials.
It does not claim that the US put Israel up to attacking Hezbollah.
Seymour Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, whose past work includes exposing the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and Vietnam's My Lai massacre.
'Pre-emptive visit'
Israel's "immediate security issues were reason enough to confront Hezbollah, regardless of what the Bush administration wanted," Mr Hersh cites "Israeli military and intelligence experts" as saying.
But, Hersh says, Israeli officials visited Washington to secure US support for its plans before Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on 12 July, the ostensible cause of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.
"Israel began with [Vice-President Dick] Cheney. It wanted to be sure that it had his support and the support of ... the National Security Council," an unnamed US government consultant told Mr Hersh.
With Mr Cheney's backing secured, "persuading [President] Bush was never a problem, and [Secretary of State] Condi Rice was on board," the source added.
Convergent interests
Israel's plan for an air war to turn the Lebanese people against Hezbollah was "the mirror image of what the United States has been planning for Iran," the article quotes an unnamed former senior intelligence official as saying.
And different US government departments which do not always see eye-to-eye all had their own reasons for backing an Israeli assault on Hezbollah, Mr Hersh claims.
The State Department reportedly saw it as "a way to strengthen the Lebanese government", which does not control the south of the country dominated by Hezbollah.
The White House wanted Hezbollah's missiles eliminated so they could not be used as retaliation against Israel in case the US bombed Iran's nuclear facilities, Mr Hersh says.
But both the Pentagon and the National Security Council deny that the US knew of Israel's plans in advance.
Meanwhile, an Israeli embassy spokesman said Israel "did not plan the campaign" to attack Hezbollah, adding: "The decision was forced on us."
Ward Carroll, a retired US Navy officer and editor Military.com, was sceptical of some of Mr Hersh's claims.
Israel would not have relied on any American intelligence or support in its campaign, he told the BBC.
"If the inference is that we are fundamentally interwoven [in the Israeli air campaign], that is a flawed thesis," Mr Carroll said.
He did not doubt that there had been communication between the US and Israel, but suggested Mr Hersh was reading too much into it.
"This would have been a courtesy brief [from Israel to the United States], and the Bush administration saying, 'We got the message.'"
Israel and the United States were in close contact about Israel's war on Hezbollah long before it began, a US investigative journalist has claimed.
"Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah, and shared it with Bush administration officials, well before" 12 July, Seymour Hersh wrote.
The article in the New Yorker magazine relies on many anonymous sources and includes denials from US officials.
It does not claim that the US put Israel up to attacking Hezbollah.
Seymour Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, whose past work includes exposing the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and Vietnam's My Lai massacre.
'Pre-emptive visit'
Israel's "immediate security issues were reason enough to confront Hezbollah, regardless of what the Bush administration wanted," Mr Hersh cites "Israeli military and intelligence experts" as saying.
But, Hersh says, Israeli officials visited Washington to secure US support for its plans before Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on 12 July, the ostensible cause of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.
"Israel began with [Vice-President Dick] Cheney. It wanted to be sure that it had his support and the support of ... the National Security Council," an unnamed US government consultant told Mr Hersh.
With Mr Cheney's backing secured, "persuading [President] Bush was never a problem, and [Secretary of State] Condi Rice was on board," the source added.
Convergent interests
Israel's plan for an air war to turn the Lebanese people against Hezbollah was "the mirror image of what the United States has been planning for Iran," the article quotes an unnamed former senior intelligence official as saying.
And different US government departments which do not always see eye-to-eye all had their own reasons for backing an Israeli assault on Hezbollah, Mr Hersh claims.
The State Department reportedly saw it as "a way to strengthen the Lebanese government", which does not control the south of the country dominated by Hezbollah.
The White House wanted Hezbollah's missiles eliminated so they could not be used as retaliation against Israel in case the US bombed Iran's nuclear facilities, Mr Hersh says.
But both the Pentagon and the National Security Council deny that the US knew of Israel's plans in advance.
Meanwhile, an Israeli embassy spokesman said Israel "did not plan the campaign" to attack Hezbollah, adding: "The decision was forced on us."
Ward Carroll, a retired US Navy officer and editor Military.com, was sceptical of some of Mr Hersh's claims.
Israel would not have relied on any American intelligence or support in its campaign, he told the BBC.
"If the inference is that we are fundamentally interwoven [in the Israeli air campaign], that is a flawed thesis," Mr Carroll said.
He did not doubt that there had been communication between the US and Israel, but suggested Mr Hersh was reading too much into it.
"This would have been a courtesy brief [from Israel to the United States], and the Bush administration saying, 'We got the message.'"
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Fragile truce holding in Lebanon
Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 07:08 GMT 08:08 UK
The truce between Israel and Hezbollah remains intact despite sporadic violence in southern Lebanon.
Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.
Both sides have claimed they were successful in the conflict.
As thousands of Lebanese people return home after the fighting, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.
US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.
Lebanese troops
Israeli military sources say that between five and 10 mortars were fired southwards on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli military has said repeatedly it wants the ceasefire to succeed and is playing down this incident, says the BBC's Rob Norris in Jerusalem.
Earlier, Israeli troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters several times across southern Lebanon, killing at least one guerrilla.
Hezbollah has always maintained it will attack any Israeli forces in Lebanon even though it has also said that it will abide by the terms of the ceasefire.
The head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Gen Alain Pellegrini, warned any provocation could quickly escalate into a major confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah.
He appealed for international reinforcements to be sent as soon as possible to prevent the ceasefire from unravelling.
Lebanon's Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (19 miles) from the border with Israel.
In the meantime, international troops would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese troops.
Mr Murr said the army would not disarm Hezbollah, but added he expected the group to co-operate, adding there would be no arms in southern Lebanon other than those of Lebanese forces once they deployed.
Hezbollah handouts
Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has claimed an historic victory, in an address broadcast on the group's television channel.
It was the wrong time, he added, for any discussion about disarming the movement - as laid down in the recent UN resolution.
He also said Hezbollah would start giving money from Tuesday to internally displaced people to cover one year's rent while they waited for their houses to be rebuilt.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended his leadership in an address to parliament on Monday, saying Hezbollah had been dealt a harsh blow.
He said there had been shortcomings in the conduct of the war, but insisted it had changed the region's strategic balance - ending what he called Hezbollah's state-within-a-state in southern Lebanon.
But his critics are angry that Israel has failed to crush Hezbollah as Mr Olmert had promised at the start of the campaign, our correspondent says.
They doubt the group will ever give up its weapons and they worry that even if Hezbollah withdraws from southern Lebanon, it may still be able to fire long-range rockets from elsewhere.
Most of all, they are furious that the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked the crisis still have not been released.
In an opinion poll of 500 Israelis by a leading Hebrew financial paper published on Monday night, more than half said the army had not achieved its aims in Lebanon.
The truce between Israel and Hezbollah remains intact despite sporadic violence in southern Lebanon.
Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.
Both sides have claimed they were successful in the conflict.
As thousands of Lebanese people return home after the fighting, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.
US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.
Lebanese troops
Israeli military sources say that between five and 10 mortars were fired southwards on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli military has said repeatedly it wants the ceasefire to succeed and is playing down this incident, says the BBC's Rob Norris in Jerusalem.
Earlier, Israeli troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters several times across southern Lebanon, killing at least one guerrilla.
Hezbollah has always maintained it will attack any Israeli forces in Lebanon even though it has also said that it will abide by the terms of the ceasefire.
The head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Gen Alain Pellegrini, warned any provocation could quickly escalate into a major confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah.
He appealed for international reinforcements to be sent as soon as possible to prevent the ceasefire from unravelling.
Lebanon's Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (19 miles) from the border with Israel.
In the meantime, international troops would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese troops.
Mr Murr said the army would not disarm Hezbollah, but added he expected the group to co-operate, adding there would be no arms in southern Lebanon other than those of Lebanese forces once they deployed.
Hezbollah handouts
Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has claimed an historic victory, in an address broadcast on the group's television channel.
It was the wrong time, he added, for any discussion about disarming the movement - as laid down in the recent UN resolution.
He also said Hezbollah would start giving money from Tuesday to internally displaced people to cover one year's rent while they waited for their houses to be rebuilt.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended his leadership in an address to parliament on Monday, saying Hezbollah had been dealt a harsh blow.
He said there had been shortcomings in the conduct of the war, but insisted it had changed the region's strategic balance - ending what he called Hezbollah's state-within-a-state in southern Lebanon.
But his critics are angry that Israel has failed to crush Hezbollah as Mr Olmert had promised at the start of the campaign, our correspondent says.
They doubt the group will ever give up its weapons and they worry that even if Hezbollah withdraws from southern Lebanon, it may still be able to fire long-range rockets from elsewhere.
Most of all, they are furious that the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked the crisis still have not been released.
In an opinion poll of 500 Israelis by a leading Hebrew financial paper published on Monday night, more than half said the army had not achieved its aims in Lebanon.
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theone666
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Gaza hunt for seized journalists
Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 11:24 GMT 12:24 UK
Palestinian security forces are searching the Gaza Strip for two kidnapped foreign journalists working for the US Fox News television channel.
The two journalists are correspondent Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig.
The crew's Palestinian driver told security officials their car was stopped in Gaza City on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out two air strikes in Gaza overnight, injuring at least eight people.
The Israeli military said it was targeting a house in the Jabaliya refugee camp used by militants who had fired two rockets into Israel on Monday.
It said a second house, in Beit Hanoun, was being used as a weapons store.
Masked gunmen
The driver for the two journalists said masked gunmen ordered the men into another vehicle and they were driven away.
There is no indication yet as to who may be responsible but Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal told the Associated Press news agency that police across Gaza had set up roadblocks to find the missing men.
Fox News said that negotiations were under way to secure the pair's release.
Over the past two years, a number of foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza. All have been freed unharmed.
The kidnappings come one year after Israel abandoned its settlements on the Gaza Strip and withdrew the soldiers guarding them.
Some of the settlers had to be forced to leave their homes, which according to international law had been built illegally.
One year on, the bungalows and gardens of the former settlements are now heaps of ruins, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza.
On agreement with Palestinian leaders, their homes were demolished after they left, but nothing has been built to replace them.
Land disputes and a lack of government control are partly to blame, says our correspondent, but Israeli artillery fire makes some former settlements too dangerous to go near.
Palestinian security forces are searching the Gaza Strip for two kidnapped foreign journalists working for the US Fox News television channel.
The two journalists are correspondent Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig.
The crew's Palestinian driver told security officials their car was stopped in Gaza City on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out two air strikes in Gaza overnight, injuring at least eight people.
The Israeli military said it was targeting a house in the Jabaliya refugee camp used by militants who had fired two rockets into Israel on Monday.
It said a second house, in Beit Hanoun, was being used as a weapons store.
Masked gunmen
The driver for the two journalists said masked gunmen ordered the men into another vehicle and they were driven away.
There is no indication yet as to who may be responsible but Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal told the Associated Press news agency that police across Gaza had set up roadblocks to find the missing men.
Fox News said that negotiations were under way to secure the pair's release.
Over the past two years, a number of foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza. All have been freed unharmed.
The kidnappings come one year after Israel abandoned its settlements on the Gaza Strip and withdrew the soldiers guarding them.
Some of the settlers had to be forced to leave their homes, which according to international law had been built illegally.
One year on, the bungalows and gardens of the former settlements are now heaps of ruins, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza.
On agreement with Palestinian leaders, their homes were demolished after they left, but nothing has been built to replace them.
Land disputes and a lack of government control are partly to blame, says our correspondent, but Israeli artillery fire makes some former settlements too dangerous to go near.
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theone666
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Syria hails 'a new Middle East'
Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 12:02 GMT 13:02 UK
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says a new Middle East has emerged as a result of what he called Hezbollah's victory over Israel in southern Lebanon.
He said the vision of the region the US aspired to had become an illusion.
His comments came as the truce between Israel and Hezbollah remains intact despite sporadic violence.
Thousands of displaced Lebanese are returning home after a halt to the conflict, in which both sides claimed to have been successful.
Mr Assad, speaking in Damascus a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, was giving his first speech on the crisis since it began more than a month ago.
He praised the "the glorious battle" he said had been waged by Hezbollah, and said peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington.
"This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said. "Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future."
The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.
Mr Assad said there was no more need for defeatism among Arabs - a feeling echoed across the Arab world, our correspondent adds.
As Lebanese refugees continued to pour back to their homes on Tuesday, their government said it was ready to move forward with its part in securing the ceasefire.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (19 miles) from the border with Israel.
In the meantime, international troops currently in Lebanon would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese troops.
He said it was not the job of the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah fighters but he was confident they would withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon as the troops moved in.
French visit
In Israel, army officers said they expected to start giving up captured Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon within a day or two.
Overnight, Israeli troops left the southern Christian town of Marjayoun, Lebanese security sources said.
Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars southwards overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is travelling to Lebanon to discuss the proposed deployment of an expanded United Nations force, in which France is expected to play a key role.
Meanwhile, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.
US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says a new Middle East has emerged as a result of what he called Hezbollah's victory over Israel in southern Lebanon.
He said the vision of the region the US aspired to had become an illusion.
His comments came as the truce between Israel and Hezbollah remains intact despite sporadic violence.
Thousands of displaced Lebanese are returning home after a halt to the conflict, in which both sides claimed to have been successful.
Mr Assad, speaking in Damascus a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, was giving his first speech on the crisis since it began more than a month ago.
He praised the "the glorious battle" he said had been waged by Hezbollah, and said peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington.
"This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said. "Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future."
The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.
Mr Assad said there was no more need for defeatism among Arabs - a feeling echoed across the Arab world, our correspondent adds.
As Lebanese refugees continued to pour back to their homes on Tuesday, their government said it was ready to move forward with its part in securing the ceasefire.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (19 miles) from the border with Israel.
In the meantime, international troops currently in Lebanon would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese troops.
He said it was not the job of the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah fighters but he was confident they would withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon as the troops moved in.
French visit
In Israel, army officers said they expected to start giving up captured Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon within a day or two.
Overnight, Israeli troops left the southern Christian town of Marjayoun, Lebanese security sources said.
Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars southwards overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is travelling to Lebanon to discuss the proposed deployment of an expanded United Nations force, in which France is expected to play a key role.
Meanwhile, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.
US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.
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theone666
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Israeli Troops Begin Pulling Out of Lebanon
By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN, AP
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Aug. 15) -- Israel began slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory Tuesday on the first full day of a tense cease-fire that already has been tested by skirmishes and rocket fire. Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon shot five Hezbollah fighters Tuesday in two separate incidents, but it was not clear if they were wounded or killed, the army said.
The Islamic militant group also fired at least 10 rockets in southern Lebanon, but none crossed the border into Israel. On Monday, at least six Hezbollah militiamen were killed by Israeli troops waiting for a peacekeeping force before beginning a full-scale withdrawal.
But Israeli and Hezbollah forces avoided any escalation, raising hopes that the U.N.-imposed pact could stick, as governments rushed to assemble international troops to deploy in southern Lebanon and firm up the peace.
Hezbollah's two patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed on Tuesday that the guerrillas had won the fight with Israel and thwarted America's plan for a "new Middle East" -- a reflection of the two countries' boosted confidence amid Hezbollah's increased popularity around the Arab and Islamic world.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said early in the war between Hezbollah and Israel that any settlement should be durable and lead to a "new Middle East" where extremists have no influence.
But after 34 days of fighting, a cease-fire that took effect Monday brought a fragile truce, with Hezbollah surviving and Israeli forces unable to score a decisive victory. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has declared "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.
Israel and its main backer, the United States, however, 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," President Bush said Monday.
As Lebanese refugees streamed home, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over southern Lebanon, warning residents to stay out of the area until Lebanese and international troops are deployed.
"The situation will remain dangerous," until the forces are deployed, the leaflets read.
Israel is waiting for a peacekeeping force to deploy in the south 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 U.N. Security Council plan to end the conflict that claimed more than 970 lives.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah has "hoisted the banner of victory" over Israel and thwarted U.S.-led plans to forge a Middle East dominated by "the U.S., Britain and Zionists."
"God's promises have come true," Ahmadinejad told a huge crowd in Arbadil in northwestern Iran. "On one side, it's corrupt powers .... with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God."
In Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad said the region has changed "because of the achievements" of Hezbollah and turned U.S dreams of a "new Middle East" into "an illusion."
The U.N. Security Council blueprint calls for Lebanese forces to join up with another 15,000 soldiers in a strengthened U.N.-backed military mission. Their job would be to patrol an 18-mile buffer zone from the Litani River to the Israeli border.
Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr said the Lebanese force 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 plan to begin handing over some captured positions on Wednesday and hope 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 U.N. force, which would then turn it over to Lebanese envoys.
The Israeli army said it already had 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.
In a highly symbolic step, the last Israel soldiers left the strategic town of Marjayoun, which was Israel's main base during its 18-year occupation of the border area that ended in 2000.
Israel's military officials also made a first gesture at possible post-conflict negotiations. They said 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the bodies of dozens of guerrillas could be offered in exchange for two captive soldiers, who were taken in a cross-border raid July 12 that touched off the worse Arab-Israel battles in 24 years.
Rescue workers dug through the ruins of apartment buildings and homes in southern villages, looking for bodies that had been left buried because they could not be reached during the Israeli bombardment.
At least 15 bodies were found in two villages near the border, Ainata and Taibeh. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah also sent teams fanning out across south Lebanon to clear unexploded ordnance from the battlefield. A 12-year-old girl was wounded when an object exploded in her village east of Nabatiyeh.
The planning for the international force was in high gear. Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday his country could send up to 3,000 troops. France, Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia also have offered to contribute. The foreign ministers of France and Turkey were heading to Lebanon for talks on the expanded U.N. force.
The peacekeeping force also must provide security for a huge reconstruction effort across southern Lebanon, where many villages were in ruins and even basic services like water and electricity may take weeks to restore.
Refugees in cars loaded down with salvaged possessions, began pouring into southern Lebanon just hours after the truce took effect on Monday morning. As they took stock of the wreckage, more refugees were expected to pour in from Syria, Cyprus and other havens during the war.
The newly discovered victims raised to at least 815 the number of people killed in Lebanon during the campaign, most civilians. Israel suffered 157 dead -- including 118 soldiers.
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. U.N. officials said 24 U.N. 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 Aug. 31 to help fund the rebuilding.
In northern Israel -- hit by nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets during the conflict -- 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.
Canceled bus routes to Kiryat Shemona were resumed, bringing home civilians and taking soldiers southward who had been at war for more than a month.
Avi Tal reopened his coffee shop in the northern town for the first time since early in the war. "All I can offer now is coffee," he said. "It's strange to adjust to the quiet after hearing booms for a month."
08-15-06 11:15 EDT
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Aug. 15) -- Israel began slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory Tuesday on the first full day of a tense cease-fire that already has been tested by skirmishes and rocket fire. Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon shot five Hezbollah fighters Tuesday in two separate incidents, but it was not clear if they were wounded or killed, the army said.
The Islamic militant group also fired at least 10 rockets in southern Lebanon, but none crossed the border into Israel. On Monday, at least six Hezbollah militiamen were killed by Israeli troops waiting for a peacekeeping force before beginning a full-scale withdrawal.
But Israeli and Hezbollah forces avoided any escalation, raising hopes that the U.N.-imposed pact could stick, as governments rushed to assemble international troops to deploy in southern Lebanon and firm up the peace.
Hezbollah's two patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed on Tuesday that the guerrillas had won the fight with Israel and thwarted America's plan for a "new Middle East" -- a reflection of the two countries' boosted confidence amid Hezbollah's increased popularity around the Arab and Islamic world.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said early in the war between Hezbollah and Israel that any settlement should be durable and lead to a "new Middle East" where extremists have no influence.
But after 34 days of fighting, a cease-fire that took effect Monday brought a fragile truce, with Hezbollah surviving and Israeli forces unable to score a decisive victory. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has declared "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.
Israel and its main backer, the United States, however, 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," President Bush said Monday.
As Lebanese refugees streamed home, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over southern Lebanon, warning residents to stay out of the area until Lebanese and international troops are deployed.
"The situation will remain dangerous," until the forces are deployed, the leaflets read.
Israel is waiting for a peacekeeping force to deploy in the south 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 U.N. Security Council plan to end the conflict that claimed more than 970 lives.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah has "hoisted the banner of victory" over Israel and thwarted U.S.-led plans to forge a Middle East dominated by "the U.S., Britain and Zionists."
"God's promises have come true," Ahmadinejad told a huge crowd in Arbadil in northwestern Iran. "On one side, it's corrupt powers .... with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God."
In Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad said the region has changed "because of the achievements" of Hezbollah and turned U.S dreams of a "new Middle East" into "an illusion."
The U.N. Security Council blueprint calls for Lebanese forces to join up with another 15,000 soldiers in a strengthened U.N.-backed military mission. Their job would be to patrol an 18-mile buffer zone from the Litani River to the Israeli border.
Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr said the Lebanese force 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 plan to begin handing over some captured positions on Wednesday and hope 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 U.N. force, which would then turn it over to Lebanese envoys.
The Israeli army said it already had 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.
In a highly symbolic step, the last Israel soldiers left the strategic town of Marjayoun, which was Israel's main base during its 18-year occupation of the border area that ended in 2000.
Israel's military officials also made a first gesture at possible post-conflict negotiations. They said 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the bodies of dozens of guerrillas could be offered in exchange for two captive soldiers, who were taken in a cross-border raid July 12 that touched off the worse Arab-Israel battles in 24 years.
Rescue workers dug through the ruins of apartment buildings and homes in southern villages, looking for bodies that had been left buried because they could not be reached during the Israeli bombardment.
At least 15 bodies were found in two villages near the border, Ainata and Taibeh. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah also sent teams fanning out across south Lebanon to clear unexploded ordnance from the battlefield. A 12-year-old girl was wounded when an object exploded in her village east of Nabatiyeh.
The planning for the international force was in high gear. Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday his country could send up to 3,000 troops. France, Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia also have offered to contribute. The foreign ministers of France and Turkey were heading to Lebanon for talks on the expanded U.N. force.
The peacekeeping force also must provide security for a huge reconstruction effort across southern Lebanon, where many villages were in ruins and even basic services like water and electricity may take weeks to restore.
Refugees in cars loaded down with salvaged possessions, began pouring into southern Lebanon just hours after the truce took effect on Monday morning. As they took stock of the wreckage, more refugees were expected to pour in from Syria, Cyprus and other havens during the war.
The newly discovered victims raised to at least 815 the number of people killed in Lebanon during the campaign, most civilians. Israel suffered 157 dead -- including 118 soldiers.
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. U.N. officials said 24 U.N. 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 Aug. 31 to help fund the rebuilding.
In northern Israel -- hit by nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets during the conflict -- 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.
Canceled bus routes to Kiryat Shemona were resumed, bringing home civilians and taking soldiers southward who had been at war for more than a month.
Avi Tal reopened his coffee shop in the northern town for the first time since early in the war. "All I can offer now is coffee," he said. "It's strange to adjust to the quiet after hearing booms for a month."
08-15-06 11:15 EDT
-
theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Cease-Fire Holding After Shaky Start
By ODED BALILTY and SAM F. GHATTAS, AP
ON THE ISRAEL- LEBANON BORDER (Aug. 16) - Hundreds of Israeli soldiers walked out of Lebanon on Tuesday - some smiling broadly and pumping their fists, others weeping or carrying wounded comrades - as a cease-fire with Hezbollah solidified after a shaky start. The process was expected to accelerate over the coming days.
The international community looked to build a U.N. peacekeeping force for south Lebanon, but it remained unclear how quickly such a force could be deployed. The guerrillas' patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed that Hezbollah won its fight with Israel - claims the Bush administration dismissed as shameful blustering.
Many of the infantry soldiers smiled with joy as they crossed back into Israel. Members of one unit carried a billowing Israeli flag. Some sang a traditional Hebrew song with the lyric: "We brought peace to you." Others wept as they returned to their country, exhausted by the fighting.
Some of the troops had been so disconnected from the news that they asked if Israel had managed to free two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah on July 12 sparked the fighting. Israel had not. Several tanks headed back into Israel as well, including one that had been damaged and was being towed by a military bulldozer.
At times as they headed south, the soldiers crossed paths with Israeli civilians traveling in the opposite direction, back to the homes they abandoned weeks ago under Hezbollah rocket fire.
Areas of northern Israel that were turned into closed military zones weeks ago were reopened to civilian traffic, and the tanks, bulldozers and other heavy military vehicles that had lined the roads were gone. At one main junction, teenage girls handed out flowers to returning soldiers, thanking them for protecting their homes.
In the battered Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, residents emerged from grimy bomb shelters and began cleaning up the wreckage caused by more than a month of Hezbollah rocket attacks.
The partial Israeli withdrawal came in preparation for a Lebanese troop deployment across the Litani River, some 18 miles north of the Israeli border. Lebanon's deployment was expected to begin Thursday and eventually put its army in control of war-ravaged south Lebanon with the help of U.N. peacekeepers, military officials on both sides of the conflict said.
The United Nations hopes that 3,500 well-equipped troops can deploy to Lebanon within two weeks as the vanguard of a robust U.N. peacekeeping force to start the process of deploying the Lebanese army and withdrawing Israeli troops, a senior U.N. peacekeeping official said Tuesday.
But Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi stressed that the Lebanese deployment and Israeli withdrawal can start even sooner using the current 2,000-strong U.N. force "if the political will is there."
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and France were due in the Lebanese capital Wednesday, and it was widely believed they would work out details of assembling a 15,000-strong international force. Indonesia and a dozen other countries also have expressed a willingness to help.
That force would work with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. Together, they are expected to police the cease-fire that took hold Monday and ended 34 days of brutal combat, Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket barrages.
France, which was expected to lead the force, was demanding a clearer U.N. mandate, including details on when the troops can use firepower. France had not yet made any announcement of how many troops it plans to send, holding up announcements of troop commitments from other countries.
In the short term and before international forces arrive, the process involves three armies on the ground and is complicated, given that the Lebanese and Israeli armies do not have direct contact and a third and central player - Hezbollah guerrillas - will not be involved.
The current U.N. observer force, known as UNIFIL, stationed permanently in the 18-mile band of territory between the Litani and the Israeli frontier, was to take up positions temporarily along the border.
The zone along the frontier would then be handed to Lebanese troops and the bolstered UNIFIL force once all Israeli soldiers have withdrawn, military officials on both sides of the conflict said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the operation.
"It will be a gradual withdrawal. ... It will take couple of days, even up to one week," a UNIFIL officer told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
"We agreed with the Lebanese army that it will start deploying as the Israelis start withdrawing. It could be as early as Thursday, maybe a slight delay," he said.
Those plans, however, depend on the Lebanese government's giving the order for the army to move south of the Litani. The Cabinet has been unable to meet on the issue since the cease-fire took hold because of deep divisions over what should be done about Hezbollah's arms in the south.
The arrangement that appears to be coming together among Lebanese politicians, military officials and Hezbollah would call not for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but instead for the guerrillas to avoid carrying weapons or using their heavily fortified bunkers to fire rockets. There would be no requirement to move the weapons north of the Litani, for the time being.
Israel's military officials made a first gesture at possible post-conflict negotiations. It said it has 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the bodies of dozens of guerrillas that could be offered in exchange for the two captive soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said its forces killed a senior Hezbollah leader just before the U.N. cease-fire took effect. It identified the guerrilla as Sajed Dawayer, the head of Hezbollah's special forces. A Hezbollah official in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon dismissed the report as "baseless," saying he had not heard of a Hezbollah military leader by that name.
Despite Israeli warnings that Lebanese refugees should avoid returning south until international forces arrive, families packed in cars loaded with salvaged possessions streamed back to learn what had become of their homes and livelihoods. Many found near total destruction.
At least 15 more bodies were found in two villages near the border, Ainata and Taibeh. The newly discovered victims raised to at least 809 the number of people killed in Lebanon during the 34-day campaign, most of them civilians. Israel suffered 157 dead - including 118 soldiers, according to the Israeli military and government officials.
The Lebanese figures are assembled from police and security officials, hospital workers, doctors and morgue attendants as well as witnesses such as Associated Press reporters and photographers. The AP count is considerably lower than that of the Lebanese government, which says 1,110 have been killed.
Children are particularly at risk in the aftermath of war, and the U.N. Children's Fund is mounting a campaign to warn young Lebanese to stay away from shiny, strange objects in the rubble. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah sent teams across south Lebanon to clear unexploded ordnance. A 12-year-old girl was wounded when an object exploded in her village east of Nabatiyeh.
Relief agencies struggled to move supplies to the south over bombed roads and others clogged with traffic. U.N. officials said 24 U.N. trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes.
Balilty reported from Malikya, Israel. Ghattas reported from Beirut. AP correspondent Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
08-16-06 00:48 EDT
ON THE ISRAEL- LEBANON BORDER (Aug. 16) - Hundreds of Israeli soldiers walked out of Lebanon on Tuesday - some smiling broadly and pumping their fists, others weeping or carrying wounded comrades - as a cease-fire with Hezbollah solidified after a shaky start. The process was expected to accelerate over the coming days.
The international community looked to build a U.N. peacekeeping force for south Lebanon, but it remained unclear how quickly such a force could be deployed. The guerrillas' patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed that Hezbollah won its fight with Israel - claims the Bush administration dismissed as shameful blustering.
Many of the infantry soldiers smiled with joy as they crossed back into Israel. Members of one unit carried a billowing Israeli flag. Some sang a traditional Hebrew song with the lyric: "We brought peace to you." Others wept as they returned to their country, exhausted by the fighting.
Some of the troops had been so disconnected from the news that they asked if Israel had managed to free two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah on July 12 sparked the fighting. Israel had not. Several tanks headed back into Israel as well, including one that had been damaged and was being towed by a military bulldozer.
At times as they headed south, the soldiers crossed paths with Israeli civilians traveling in the opposite direction, back to the homes they abandoned weeks ago under Hezbollah rocket fire.
Areas of northern Israel that were turned into closed military zones weeks ago were reopened to civilian traffic, and the tanks, bulldozers and other heavy military vehicles that had lined the roads were gone. At one main junction, teenage girls handed out flowers to returning soldiers, thanking them for protecting their homes.
In the battered Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, residents emerged from grimy bomb shelters and began cleaning up the wreckage caused by more than a month of Hezbollah rocket attacks.
The partial Israeli withdrawal came in preparation for a Lebanese troop deployment across the Litani River, some 18 miles north of the Israeli border. Lebanon's deployment was expected to begin Thursday and eventually put its army in control of war-ravaged south Lebanon with the help of U.N. peacekeepers, military officials on both sides of the conflict said.
The United Nations hopes that 3,500 well-equipped troops can deploy to Lebanon within two weeks as the vanguard of a robust U.N. peacekeeping force to start the process of deploying the Lebanese army and withdrawing Israeli troops, a senior U.N. peacekeeping official said Tuesday.
But Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi stressed that the Lebanese deployment and Israeli withdrawal can start even sooner using the current 2,000-strong U.N. force "if the political will is there."
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and France were due in the Lebanese capital Wednesday, and it was widely believed they would work out details of assembling a 15,000-strong international force. Indonesia and a dozen other countries also have expressed a willingness to help.
That force would work with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. Together, they are expected to police the cease-fire that took hold Monday and ended 34 days of brutal combat, Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket barrages.
France, which was expected to lead the force, was demanding a clearer U.N. mandate, including details on when the troops can use firepower. France had not yet made any announcement of how many troops it plans to send, holding up announcements of troop commitments from other countries.
In the short term and before international forces arrive, the process involves three armies on the ground and is complicated, given that the Lebanese and Israeli armies do not have direct contact and a third and central player - Hezbollah guerrillas - will not be involved.
The current U.N. observer force, known as UNIFIL, stationed permanently in the 18-mile band of territory between the Litani and the Israeli frontier, was to take up positions temporarily along the border.
The zone along the frontier would then be handed to Lebanese troops and the bolstered UNIFIL force once all Israeli soldiers have withdrawn, military officials on both sides of the conflict said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the operation.
"It will be a gradual withdrawal. ... It will take couple of days, even up to one week," a UNIFIL officer told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
"We agreed with the Lebanese army that it will start deploying as the Israelis start withdrawing. It could be as early as Thursday, maybe a slight delay," he said.
Those plans, however, depend on the Lebanese government's giving the order for the army to move south of the Litani. The Cabinet has been unable to meet on the issue since the cease-fire took hold because of deep divisions over what should be done about Hezbollah's arms in the south.
The arrangement that appears to be coming together among Lebanese politicians, military officials and Hezbollah would call not for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but instead for the guerrillas to avoid carrying weapons or using their heavily fortified bunkers to fire rockets. There would be no requirement to move the weapons north of the Litani, for the time being.
Israel's military officials made a first gesture at possible post-conflict negotiations. It said it has 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the bodies of dozens of guerrillas that could be offered in exchange for the two captive soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said its forces killed a senior Hezbollah leader just before the U.N. cease-fire took effect. It identified the guerrilla as Sajed Dawayer, the head of Hezbollah's special forces. A Hezbollah official in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon dismissed the report as "baseless," saying he had not heard of a Hezbollah military leader by that name.
Despite Israeli warnings that Lebanese refugees should avoid returning south until international forces arrive, families packed in cars loaded with salvaged possessions streamed back to learn what had become of their homes and livelihoods. Many found near total destruction.
At least 15 more bodies were found in two villages near the border, Ainata and Taibeh. The newly discovered victims raised to at least 809 the number of people killed in Lebanon during the 34-day campaign, most of them civilians. Israel suffered 157 dead - including 118 soldiers, according to the Israeli military and government officials.
The Lebanese figures are assembled from police and security officials, hospital workers, doctors and morgue attendants as well as witnesses such as Associated Press reporters and photographers. The AP count is considerably lower than that of the Lebanese government, which says 1,110 have been killed.
Children are particularly at risk in the aftermath of war, and the U.N. Children's Fund is mounting a campaign to warn young Lebanese to stay away from shiny, strange objects in the rubble. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah sent teams across south Lebanon to clear unexploded ordnance. A 12-year-old girl was wounded when an object exploded in her village east of Nabatiyeh.
Relief agencies struggled to move supplies to the south over bombed roads and others clogged with traffic. U.N. officials said 24 U.N. trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes.
Balilty reported from Malikya, Israel. Ghattas reported from Beirut. AP correspondent Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
08-16-06 00:48 EDT
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Iran and Syria applaud 'victory'
Syria and Iran have praised Hezbollah for what both describe as the group's defeat of Israel in Lebanon.
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad hailed the "glorious battle". Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had thwarted US plans to dominate the Middle East.
The comments came as the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah continued to hold, despite sporadic violence.
On Tuesday the Israeli army shot five Hezbollah fighters in two incidents in south Lebanon, killing at least three.
The Israelis say they acted in self-defence.
Jubilant mood
Both Syria and Iran are long-time allies of Hezbollah.
Mr Assad, speaking in Damascus a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, was giving his first speech on the crisis since it began more than a month ago.
He said Israel had been defeated and Hezbollah had "hoisted the banner of victory", following the month-long conflict.
He added that peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington.
"This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said.
"Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future."
The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.
Mr Assad said there was no more need for defeatism among Arabs - a feeling echoed across the Arab world, our correspondent adds.
In Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had foiled plans to forge a Middle East dominated by "the US, Britain and Zionists".
"God's promises have come true," he told a cheering crowd in the north-western city of Arbadil.
"On one side, it's corrupt powers.... with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God."
As Lebanese refugees continued to pour back to their homes on Tuesday, their government said it was ready to move forward with its part in securing the ceasefire.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (18 miles) from the border with Israel.
In the meantime, international troops currently in Lebanon would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese.
He said it was not the job of the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah fighters but he was confident they would withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon as the troops moved in.
In Israel, army officers said they expected to start giving up captured Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon within a day or two.
French visit
Overnight, Israeli troops left the southern Christian town of Marjayoun, Lebanese security sources said.
Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars southwards overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is travelling to Lebanon to discuss the proposed deployment of an expanded United Nations force, in which France is expected to play a key role.
Meanwhile, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.
US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".
Iran's president blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad hailed the "glorious battle". Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had thwarted US plans to dominate the Middle East.
The comments came as the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah continued to hold, despite sporadic violence.
On Tuesday the Israeli army shot five Hezbollah fighters in two incidents in south Lebanon, killing at least three.
The Israelis say they acted in self-defence.
Jubilant mood
Both Syria and Iran are long-time allies of Hezbollah.
Mr Assad, speaking in Damascus a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, was giving his first speech on the crisis since it began more than a month ago.
He said Israel had been defeated and Hezbollah had "hoisted the banner of victory", following the month-long conflict.
He added that peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington.
"This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said.
"Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future."
The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.
Mr Assad said there was no more need for defeatism among Arabs - a feeling echoed across the Arab world, our correspondent adds.
In Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had foiled plans to forge a Middle East dominated by "the US, Britain and Zionists".
"God's promises have come true," he told a cheering crowd in the north-western city of Arbadil.
"On one side, it's corrupt powers.... with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God."
As Lebanese refugees continued to pour back to their homes on Tuesday, their government said it was ready to move forward with its part in securing the ceasefire.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (18 miles) from the border with Israel.
In the meantime, international troops currently in Lebanon would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese.
He said it was not the job of the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah fighters but he was confident they would withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon as the troops moved in.
In Israel, army officers said they expected to start giving up captured Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon within a day or two.
French visit
Overnight, Israeli troops left the southern Christian town of Marjayoun, Lebanese security sources said.
Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars southwards overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is travelling to Lebanon to discuss the proposed deployment of an expanded United Nations force, in which France is expected to play a key role.
Meanwhile, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.
US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".
Iran's president blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.