Fragile truce begins in Lebanon

BEIRUT – Heavy fighting in southern Lebanon stopped abruptly yesterday after a UN-brokered truce came into effect, but reports that Israeli troops killed a Hezbollah guerrilla underlined the fragility of the truce.

Army Radio and the Haaretz newspaper’s Web site said the Hezbollah fighter was shot dead after he opened fire on Israeli troops in southwest Lebanon. It was the first reported clash since the ceasefire began.A military spokesman said the man was among an armed group which approached the army position, but declined to say whether the gunman had been killed.”We will continue to defend our forces acting in the area,” the spokesman said.Thousands of Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon, and they are not expected to withdraw fully until an international peacekeeping force arrives alongside Lebanese troops.Security sources in south Lebanon said Israeli air strikes and artillery fire continued until just a few minutes before the truce took effect at 0500 GMT.Then there was silence.Israel said some soldiers began pulling out of Lebanon after the truce began.”There are forces going out but there are enough forces that are staying,” a military spokesman said.There were no reports of any Hezbollah rockets being fired at Israel after the truce took hold.”We are entering the stage of a ceasefire.The firing is over,” a senior Israeli army officer said over the radio, giving orders to his soldiers.”We hope the ceasefire will be kept.We are asking you to stay alert and prepare as Hezbollah could still break it.”Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war headed south some to check damage to their houses, others hoping to return home for good.Drivers honked their horns, and hundreds of cars jammed a narrow road leading south from Sidon.”I’m so excited to see my home.I’d heard news it was completely destroyed, but even if there’s one room intact, I will stay there with my children,” said Sanaa Ayyad, carrying a baby while two young boys followed her.But Israel said its ban on unauthorised traffic in southern Lebanon remained in place, and that any vehicles on the roads risked attack.An air and sea blockade of Lebanon would also continue, a military source said.Aid groups said they needed swift access to southern Lebanon to help 100 000 people stranded in the area south of the Litani river, which has not been reached by aid convoys for a week.”With the ceasefire in place, there can no longer be any no-go areas in Lebanon,” David Shearer, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, said in a statement.Around 1 100 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 156 Israelis, including 116 soldiers, have been killed in the war, triggered when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.Under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Friday, Israeli forces must start to withdraw as around 30 000 foreign peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers deploy in the south.Hezbollah must also pull its fighters out of southern Lebanon.Nampa-ReutersIt was the first reported clash since the ceasefire began.A military spokesman said the man was among an armed group which approached the army position, but declined to say whether the gunman had been killed.”We will continue to defend our forces acting in the area,” the spokesman said.Thousands of Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon, and they are not expected to withdraw fully until an international peacekeeping force arrives alongside Lebanese troops.Security sources in south Lebanon said Israeli air strikes and artillery fire continued until just a few minutes before the truce took effect at 0500 GMT.Then there was silence.Israel said some soldiers began pulling out of Lebanon after the truce began.”There are forces going out but there are enough forces that are staying,” a military spokesman said.There were no reports of any Hezbollah rockets being fired at Israel after the truce took hold.”We are entering the stage of a ceasefire.The firing is over,” a senior Israeli army officer said over the radio, giving orders to his soldiers.”We hope the ceasefire will be kept.We are asking you to stay alert and prepare as Hezbollah could still break it.”Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war headed south some to check damage to their houses, others hoping to return home for good.Drivers honked their horns, and hundreds of cars jammed a narrow road leading south from Sidon.”I’m so excited to see my home.I’d heard news it was completely destroyed, but even if there’s one room intact, I will stay there with my children,” said Sanaa Ayyad, carrying a baby while two young boys followed her.But Israel said its ban on unauthorised traffic in southern Lebanon remained in place, and that any vehicles on the roads risked attack.An air and sea blockade of Lebanon would also continue, a military source said.Aid groups said they needed swift access to southern Lebanon to help 100 000 people stranded in the area south of the Litani river, which has not been reached by aid convoys for a week.”With the ceasefire in place, there can no longer be any no-go areas in Lebanon,” David Shearer, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, said in a statement.Around 1 100 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 156 Israelis, including 116 soldiers, have been killed in the war, triggered when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.Under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Friday, Israeli forces must start to withdraw as around 30 000 foreign peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers deploy in the south.Hezbollah must also pull its fighters out of southern Lebanon.Nampa-Reuters