Israel cautious on Lebanon proposal, expands offensive

Israel yesterday cautiously welcomed a Lebanese proposal to deploy 15 000 troops north of their border under a UN ceasefire resolution, but ordered its army to prepare for an expanded ground offensive if diplomatic efforts fail.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Beirut’s offer to send troops to southern Lebanon if Israeli forces withdraw “an interesting step that we have to study.” “We have to study all the aspects and see how realistic it is to carry them out in reasonable time,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem.Amid the intense haggling at the Security Council over how to end the bloody conflict, Lebanon has said that it is ready to deploy 15 000 troops in southern Lebanon as soon as the Israeli forces pull out.Israel is cautious on the proposal, which was agreed to by Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group whose base of support has been in southern Lebanon for years.Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman for Olmert’s office warned that Lebanon’s proposal “could be a smokescreen behind which Hezbollah can continue operating.””We don’t know how serious this proposition is,” said Avi Pazner.”This could be a tactical move ahead of the UN Security Council meeting.”UN Security Council permanent members France and the United States were working yesterday on modifying the wording of their draft resolution that had been rejected by Lebanon because it did not call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces.The text is not expected to be adopted until Wednesday.Meanwhile Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the army to prepare for an expanded ground offensive in case diplomatic efforts to end the Lebanon offensive fail.”I have instructed all the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) commanders to prepare for an operation aimed at taking over launching areas and reduce as much as possible Hezbollah’s rocket launching capability,” he told Labour lawmakers.”If we see that the diplomatic efforts do not yield the results we expect, we will have to do it ourselves,” he said.Israel’s security cabinet will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to approve the measure, Olmert said.As diplomats wrangled over wording to a resolution in New York, Israel and Hezbollah were locked in fierce clashes inside Lebanon’s border.The army said that two reservists were killed in the fighting, one near the village of Debel seven kilometres (four miles) inside the border, and another further west.Israel’s military on Tuesday dropped leaflets on south Lebanon, warning it would strike any vehicle travelling south of the Litani River.The Israeli army has advanced in places up to eight kilometres inside Lebanese territory in its ground offensive, aimed at eradicating Hezbollah militants from the border area and thwarting rocket attacks.Nampa-AFP”We have to study all the aspects and see how realistic it is to carry them out in reasonable time,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem.Amid the intense haggling at the Security Council over how to end the bloody conflict, Lebanon has said that it is ready to deploy 15 000 troops in southern Lebanon as soon as the Israeli forces pull out.Israel is cautious on the proposal, which was agreed to by Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group whose base of support has been in southern Lebanon for years.Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman for Olmert’s office warned that Lebanon’s proposal “could be a smokescreen behind which Hezbollah can continue operating.””We don’t know how serious this proposition is,” said Avi Pazner.”This could be a tactical move ahead of the UN Security Council meeting.”UN Security Council permanent members France and the United States were working yesterday on modifying the wording of their draft resolution that had been rejected by Lebanon because it did not call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces.The text is not expected to be adopted until Wednesday.Meanwhile Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the army to prepare for an expanded ground offensive in case diplomatic efforts to end the Lebanon offensive fail.”I have instructed all the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) commanders to prepare for an operation aimed at taking over launching areas and reduce as much as possible Hezbollah’s rocket launching capability,” he told Labour lawmakers.”If we see that the diplomatic efforts do not yield the results we expect, we will have to do it ourselves,” he said.Israel’s security cabinet will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to approve the measure, Olmert said.As diplomats wrangled over wording to a resolution in New York, Israel and Hezbollah were locked in fierce clashes inside Lebanon’s border.The army said that two reservists were killed in the fighting, one near the village of Debel seven kilometres (four miles) inside the border, and another further west.Israel’s military on Tuesday dropped leaflets on south Lebanon, warning it would strike any vehicle travelling south of the Litani River.The Israeli army has advanced in places up to eight kilometres inside Lebanese territory in its ground offensive, aimed at eradicating Hezbollah militants from the border area and thwarting rocket attacks.Nampa-AFP