Israel At War Watch: Israel Defense Forces To Withdraw Despite Plans To Leave Hezbollah Armed
Merkava tank : An Israeli reserve soldier sits on a Merkava tank and cleans his weapon after returning from operations in south Lebanon earlier this morning, along the Israel-Lebanon border.
JPost: IDF to withdraw despite plans to leave Hizbullah armed
Despite the public reappearance of armed Hizbullah gunmen in southern Lebanon, senior IDF officers said Wednesday that Israel would uphold the cease-fire and begin to gradually withdraw its forces ahead of the planned deployment of the Lebanese army in the south, scheduled to begin on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Lebanese cabinet approved a plan to deploy troops south of the Litani River and to extend government authority over the region, a key provision of the UN cease-fire plan that ended 34 days of fighting. But the cabinet said soldiers would not “chase” or “take revenge” on Hizbullah guerrillas in a bid to disarm the fighters.
“There will be no confrontation between the army and brothers in Hizbullah… That is not the army’s mission… They are not going to chase and, God forbid, exact revenge,” said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi after the two-hour cabinet meeting.
Senior Hizbullah official Hassan Fadlallah said that the issue of his organization’s disarmament was not on the agenda.
Yet, Israel will continue to stand down and withdraw even though United Nations Resolution 1701 states that Hezbollah is to be disarmed.
So, why did Israel stop fighting?
Despite the Lebanese government’s clear announcement that it would not work to disarm Hizbullah, the IDF said it was going ahead with the transfer of Lebanese territory to UNIFIL and eventually to the Lebanese army.
On Wednesday, the IDF began handing over small pieces of southern Lebanon to the existing UNIFIL force.
“We will go ahead with the transfer of the territory to the new UNIFIL force,” OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam said following a meeting with the head of the UN force, French Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini at Rosh Hanikra Wednesday night.
As the cease-fire continues, Israel appears to be the “BIG LOSER” in this war.
Hezbollah is coming out of this war stronger and Israel and the United States look defeated.
Israel did not even get their two kidnapped soldiers back……
Why did Israel go to war?
Stay tuned as these hard questions are asked of Prime Minister Olmert and his cabinet…..
A Lebanese civilian sits in the rubble of his home, bombed by Israel , in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre. Lebanon was poised to start deploying government troops to Hezbollah’s longtime bastion in the south as Israel announced its forces had began pulling back following its month-long conflict with the Shiite militant group.
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