Guardian Unlimited [UK]: Israeli raid in Lebanon 'breaks' ceasefire

Israeli raid in Lebanon 'breaks' ceasefire

August 20, 2006

The ceasefire in Lebanon was holding by a thread on Saturday night after Israel sanctioned a commando raid in the east of the country. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, said Israel had violated the truce, and he was "deeply concerned" about it.

But the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, claimed that the attack was intended to prevent the supply of new weapons and ammunition to Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, renewed arguments developed about the composition of the UN peacekeeping force in the south of the country. As the first international troops charged with boosting the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) -- 50 French soldiers -- landed on Saturday near Naqoura, almost 5km from the Israeli border, the Lebanese defence minister threatened to halt the deployment of Lebanese national troops into areas previously controlled by Hezbollah.

France, one of the architects of the ceasefire that ended the 33-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah last week, has disappointed expectations that it would provide the backbone of the 15 000 international reinforcements. Jacques Chirac, the French President, has spoken with leaders from several countries to stress the need for a clearer mandate for an enlarged UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, his office said.

Envoys sent to the region by Annan have so far sent back positive reports, praising the efforts of both the Lebanese and Israeli armies to uphold their obligations under the recently passed UN Resolution 1701.

The Israeli commando raid thus took observers by surprise. The deployment of Lebanese forces and the eventual disarmament of Hezbollah have been a demand of Olmert's government.

Early on Saturday, troops from the Matkal, a special-forces elite unit, launched a commando raid near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek, in the Beka valley. During the ensuing firefight one officer was killed and two injured. Israeli reports said the commandos were in two vehicles unloaded from helicopters, and were on their way to attack the office of a Hezbollah official in the village of Bodai when they were intercepted.

Lebanese security officials said that three Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in the fighting.

Violating the ceasefire on Saturday, Israeli aircraft also fired rockets at a target in eastern Lebanon. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the air raid was aimed at disrupting the shipment of weapons to Hezbollah guerrillas from Syria and Iran.

"Special forces carried out an operation to disrupt terror actions against Israel with an emphasis on the transfer of munitions from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah," an IDF spokesperson said, adding that the operation had achieved its aims.

The Israeli foreign ministry said that continued Hezbollah arms shipments and the absence of Lebanese and international troops on the border had made the raid necessary.

"Israel reserves the right to act in order to enforce the spirit of the [UN] resolution," said spokesperson Mark Regev. Resolution 1701 ordered Israel to end "all offensive military actions" and Hezbollah to end all attacks. It also called for an embargo on unauthorised arms supplies to Lebanon.

Witnesses saw a destroyed bridge not far from the area where the commandos landed. They said they believed it had been destroyed by Israeli missiles.

An Israeli Cabinet minister told Israeli radio that Hezbollah was preventing the UN force entering towns in the south. The minister speculated that, if this did not change, Israelis could be back for a "second round" of fighting in the south.

At least 1 183 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the war. Israel said it had killed more than 530 Hezbollah fighters -- at least five times more than the group has acknowledged.

-- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006