Annan tries to calm Mideast violence

DEAD SEA – UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, trying to calm Middle East violence, met Jordan’s King Abdullah yesterday before visiting Syria to seek its help in upholding a truce between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Annan has had little to show for his mission so far, but a senior Israeli political source said Israel would discuss freeing Lebanese prisoners for two soldiers held by Hezbollah if the two are handed over to the Lebanese government. The soldiers’ capture in a Hezbollah raid on July 12 sparked the 34-day war.The Shi’ite guerrillas said at the outset it wanted to swap the Israelis for Lebanese prisoners.Any negotiations would be with the Beirut government, via a mediator, not with Hezbollah, the source said.Israel, which has previously said the soldiers must be freed unconditionally, conveyed its stance to Annan on Wednesday, the source added.Annan has said he is trying to speed the arrival of extra UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, where the first big contingent of 800 Italian troops is due on Friday.German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said he expected Germany to contribute more than 1 200 troops to the UN force.The German newspaper Handelsblatt cited government sources as saying that more than 1 500 German troops and two naval frigates could be sent.The plan would be to patrol the entire Lebanese coast to prevent arms smuggling, it said.Annan’s talks with King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib on the shores of the Dead Sea were likely to cover Israeli-Palestinian violence as well as the Lebanon truce.Jordan initially criticised Hezbollah’s role in touching off the war in Lebanon, but King Abdullah later said Israel’s offensive had turned the guerrillas into heroes for many Arabs and had boosted militants fighting “aggression and occupation”.Jordan, which has a peace treaty with Israel and is a close ally of the United States, is worried by the rise of Iranian power since the Iraq war and by the absence of an even-handed US drive to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Nampa-ReutersThe soldiers’ capture in a Hezbollah raid on July 12 sparked the 34-day war.The Shi’ite guerrillas said at the outset it wanted to swap the Israelis for Lebanese prisoners.Any negotiations would be with the Beirut government, via a mediator, not with Hezbollah, the source said.Israel, which has previously said the soldiers must be freed unconditionally, conveyed its stance to Annan on Wednesday, the source added.Annan has said he is trying to speed the arrival of extra UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, where the first big contingent of 800 Italian troops is due on Friday.German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said he expected Germany to contribute more than 1 200 troops to the UN force.The German newspaper Handelsblatt cited government sources as saying that more than 1 500 German troops and two naval frigates could be sent.The plan would be to patrol the entire Lebanese coast to prevent arms smuggling, it said.Annan’s talks with King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib on the shores of the Dead Sea were likely to cover Israeli-Palestinian violence as well as the Lebanon truce.Jordan initially criticised Hezbollah’s role in touching off the war in Lebanon, but King Abdullah later said Israel’s offensive had turned the guerrillas into heroes for many Arabs and had boosted militants fighting “aggression and occupation”.Jordan, which has a peace treaty with Israel and is a close ally of the United States, is worried by the rise of Iranian power since the Iraq war and by the absence of an even-handed US drive to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Nampa-Reuters