Israel At War Watch: Israel Threatens To Resume War If Hezbollah Refuses to Disarm
JPost: Israel threatens to resume war if Hizbullah refuses to disarm
The IDF will have to resume operations in Lebanon if the expanded United Nations force being assembled does not fulfill its obligation to dismantle Hizbullah, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office warned on Tuesday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah reportedly reached a deal allowing Hizbullah to keep its weapons but refrain from exhibiting them in public. Israeli officials called the arrangement a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which passed over the weekend and was approved on Sunday by the cabinet.
The text of United Nations Resolution 1701 is here.
Is there any doubt the Hassan Nasrallah and the Lebanese government are stalling, thus enabling Hezbollah to re-entrench in areas occupied by the Israeli Defense forces?
NOPE
“The resolution is clear that Hizbullah needs to be removed from the border area, embargoed and dismantled,” the official said. “If the resolution is not implemented, we will have to take action to prevent the rearming of Hizbullah. I don’t think backtracking will serve any useful purpose. There has to be pressure on Hizbullah to disarm or there will have to be another round.”
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to raise the issue when she meets in New York on Wednesday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan angered Israeli officials when he told Channel 2 on Tuesday that “dismantling Hizbullah is not the direct mandate of the UN,” which could only help Lebanon disarm the organization. Annan upset officials further when he said that deploying international forces in Lebanon would take “weeks or months,” and not days as expected.
Kofi Annan cannot be trusted and Israel will have NO CHOICE but to resume hostilities if Hezbollah does not begin or at least acquiesce to a disarming process Wednesday.
Flap thinks the cease-fire is as good as over – just like the Olmert government which may fall within days.
Captain Ed agrees with Flap.
Annan also miscalculated the Israeli impulse for a cessation of hostilities. He was under the impression that Israel had tired of the military option, but in reality Israel won everything it wanted in the action, especially under the terms of 1701. The Israelis still had plenty of will left to fight, but with the exception of pushing into the Bekaa, a further incursion past the Litani would have produced rapidly diminishing results. The Israelis want a sovereign Lebanese government to take responsibility for its own territory, and do not want to conduct another long occupation based on the lack of a partner in Beirut.
Don’t expect this cease-fire to last more than the next 24-48 hours. Annan himself managed to destroy it, and the UN Security Council will be hard pressed to make any more demands on the Israelis — which leaves them open to do whatever they think best without further interference.
Stay tuned……
Backdropped by a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, United Nations peacekeepers from France sit atop their armoured personnel carrier in the outskirts of the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006. The international community was scrambling Tuesday to put together a fortified U.N. peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces began a pullout that many fear could create a dangerous vacuum.
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Israel At War Watch: Hassan Nasrallah – The Disarmament of Hezbollah Should NOT Be Discussed Now
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