Lebanon wants UN resolution to call for Israel withdrawal

BEIRUT - Lebanon wants a draft UN resolution calling for an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah changed to include an explicit demand for a full Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon, a government source said Sunday.

The source, who asked not to be named, said Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora had told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a telephone call overnight that Beirut was unhappy with the current text of the resolution.

The draft Franco-US resolution, which demands a "full cessation of hostilities" between Hezbollah and Israel, makes no call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops currently engaged in major incursions in south Lebanon.

"Lebanon insists that a ceasefire is accompanied by a withdrawal of the Israeli army beyond the Blue Line (border)," the government source told AFP.

"The Lebanese army would then deploy up to the Lebanese-Israeli frontier with the assistance of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, reinforced by countries who have already said they are ready to send troops immediately," the source cited Siniora has telling Rice.

The resolution "will not resolve the crisis neither for the good of Lebanon or for Israel. Israel will not have a guarantee of secure frontiers and Lebanon will not recover all its occupied territory."

"The Lebanese government would not be able to prevent Hezbollah from using arms if a part of Lebanon is reoccupied by Israel," said Siniora, according to the source.

Agence France-Presse

Israel and Hezbollah step up attacks

A defiant Hezbollah fired its deadliest rocket barrage of the war despite a U.S.-French truce proposal, killing 15 Israelis, among them 12 soldiers heading for battle in Lebanon, and pounding Haifa, Israel's third largest city, AP news reported.

Israeli warplanes struck deep in Lebanon early Monday, targeting a northeastern region that is a symbol of Hezbollah power, while guerrillas fought with Israeli forces near the border, witnesses and the group said.

At least four explosions were heard around the city of Baalbek.

Both sides appeared to take advantage of the days before a cease-fire resolution, formulated by the U.S. and France, is put to a vote in the U.N. Security Council. The plan envisions a second resolution in a week, or two that would authorise an international military force and creation of a buffer zone in south Lebanon.

Call for 'immediate' end to war

by Tim Witcher in United Nations

August 12, 2006 11:23am

THE UN Security Council has unanimously called for an end to the bloodshed between Israel and Hezbollah and for the deployment of a 15,000-strong international peacekeeping force to prevent further conflict.

Resolution 1701, drawn up by the United States and France after protracted haggling, also calls for Israeli troops to be withdrawn from southern Lebanon after an end to the fighting.

The council called for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

More than four weeks of conflict have left more than 1,100 dead, mainly in Lebanon.

While Israel pursued its military offensive on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to urge his cabinet to accept the resolution when it meets Sunday, a government spokesman said.

The Lebanese cabinet was to meet Saturday and US officials said it was also expected to accept the resolution.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran and Syria - considered Hezbollah's main backers - to respect the resolution, which she said should lay the basis for "lasting peace" between Israel and Lebanon.

But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the time it had taken the major powers to call for a cessation of hostilities had "badly shaken" world's faith in the council.

The text calls on Lebanon and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to "deploy their forces together" in southern Lebanon, while Israel must "withdraw all of its forces from southern Lebanon in parallel" to the deployment.

The first version of the French-US text had not mentioned a withdrawal and Lebanon had objected, demanding an immediate Israeli pullout.

The text also authorizes an increase in UNIFIL's strength to a maximum of 15,000 troops from its current size of about 1190 troops. Lebanon plans to send 15,000 troops to the south.

UNIFIL will monitor the cessation of hostilities and any permanent ceasefire and back up Lebanese armed forces as they deploy across the region now dominated by Hezbollah.

Israel has criticised UNIFIL, which has failed to prevent Hezbollah attacks in recent years, and demanded a more "robust" international force in terms of size and powers to restrain Hezbollah be deployed.

The resolution gives UNIFIL the power to "take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces, and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."

The text did not say which chapter of the UN charter it would be organised under. The United States had wanted a mandate under chapter seven which would give it greater military muscle.

This was opposed by Lebanon. But a senior US State Department official said the force "will be able to defend itself and has a very strong mandate which you would see in a chapter seven resolution."

French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said he thought the extra troops could be deployed "very swiftly" as it is the strengthening of an existing UN force and not the creation of a new entity.

A US official said a meeting could be held at the UN headquarters on Saturday for potential troop contributors.

The resolution also calls for the "unconditional release" of two Israeli soldiers whose abduction by Hezbollah sparked the start of the war on July 12.

Lebanon had raised late questions about the status of the international force and the future of a small parcel of territory, the Shebaa Farms, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The text calls for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to make proposals to settle the Shebaa Farms dispute within 30 days of the vote.

The US secretary of state called on Hezbollah allies Iran and Syria to respect the resolution.

"We call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community," she told the Security Council.

She also said "Hezbollah now faces a clear choice between war and peace" in light of the resolution, which Rice said "helped to open a path to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel."

The Security Council was strongly criticised however by the UN secretary general.

"I would be remiss if I did not tell you how profoundly disappointed I am that the council did not reach this point much, much earlier," he said in opening the meeting.

"All members of this council must be aware that this inability to act sooner has badly shaken the world's faith in its authority and integrity," he said.

News Limited

6 hours more and then it will be peace