Israel at War Watch: Lebanese Army Reaches Southern Border with Israel
A Lebanese Army soldier flashes the victory sign as he rides in a truck on the way to deployment in southern Lebanon, north of the port city of Sidon, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006. Lebanese troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, have begun deploying south of the Litani River in line with a U.N. cease-fire plan to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, a senior military official said Thursday.
AP: Lebanese army reaches southern border
The Lebanese army reached the country’s southern border with Israel for the first time Friday, sending a sole jeep on patrol through this village, where Israeli forces pulled out of in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.
The army jeep, flying a large Lebanese flag and carrying just two soldiers clad in green camouflage uniforms, passed by the Fatima Gate a few yards from the border in Kfar Kila but did not stop.
Villagers throwing rice and Hezbollah supporters holding banners have welcomed the country’s army to the south after a nearly 40-year absence. About 15,000 troops are eventually supposed to deploy in the region under a peace plan aimed at securing an end to more than a month of fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel, but so far the troops have deployed mostly to predominantly Christian towns including Qleia and Marjayoun.
The Lebanese Army should be deployed in their own country – not an armed Hezbollah militia. But, until now the Lebanese government has been AWOL and their army weak.
Note that this state army will not even ask Hezbollah to disarm but merely put their weapons in hiding – while they are re-armed by Syria and Iran. A viloation of UNSCR 1701?
You betcha
And where is the UNIFIL deployment of 15,000 troops as per UNSCR 1701?
AWOL and…..
France is reneging on its commitment of troops (TYPICAL FRENCH SURRENDER).
France on Thursday rebuffed pleas by U.N. officials to make a major contribution to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, setting back efforts to deploy an international military force to help police a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to U.N. and French officials.
French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France would contribute only 200 additional troops to the U.N. operation in southern Lebanon, which the Security Council wants to expand from 2,000 troops to 15,000. Chirac said that a force of about 1,700 French troops and crew members on warships off the coast would provide logistical support.
The United Nations is a gaggle of clowns.
Why Israel accepted this cease-fire is anyone’s guess. They did not meet their objectives of the war and events are reverting back to pre-war conditions.
The United Nations will NEVER enforce UNSCR 1701 and police southern Lebanon.
Might this be a wake-up call to Foggey Bottom about the effectiveness of United Nations negotiations – like in Iran?
We can only hope…..
And what is happening in the DEFEATED Israel?
Read it all……
Stay tuned……
Previous:
Israel at War Watch: Lebanese Army Moves Below Latani River
Israel At War Watch: Israel Defense Forces To Withdraw Despite Plans To Leave Hezbollah Armed
Michael Ramirez on Israel-Hezbollah War
Israel at War Watch: Israel to STOP Pullout If Lebanese Army Fails to Deploy Timely
Israel At War Watch: Israel Threatens To Resume War If Hezbollah Refuses to Disarm
Israel At War Watch: Hassan Nasrallah – The Disarmament of Hezbollah Should NOT Be Discussed Now
Israel at War Watch: The Arab Street Rejoices – Mocks Israel And United States
Israel at War Watch: Conversation With Benjamin Netanyahu – Hezbollah Will NOT Disarm
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Cleric Ahmad Khatami Warns Israel of Missile Attack
2 Comments
john Carey
Charade
By John E. Carey
August 18, 2006
The “new” United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), scheduled to contain as many as 15,000 troops and tasked by the UN with keeping the peace on the border of southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, began to take position yesterday and today.
For the first time in almost four decades, troops from Lebanon’s Army will actually patrol this portion of Lebanon. Some took their positions yesterday.
But the entire effort is a French Charade. More correctly, a charade in any language (and perhaps in several languages).
Israel, in the person of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, called implementation of UN resolution 1701 “a test” for the United Nations. If she is correct, we can already anticipate that the great deliberative body will get an “F.â€
At the UN there is the usual sense of urgency and monumental importance.
Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said, “Every moment we delay is a moment of risk that the fighting could re-erupt.”
Disarming Hezbollah
A key provision of the UN mandate is to disarm Hezbollah. But the French, whom will command the UN force, have already politely demurred.
“Hezbollah will disengage and Hezbollah will disarm according to a plan that will be set out by the Lebanese government,” said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
“The Lebanese armed forces are still preparing to begin to move south,” White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters Thursday amid questions about the implementation of a ceasefire between the Shiite militia group and Israel.
“It is going to be their job eventually to make sure that Hezbollah is disarmed and is no longer functioning as an independent militia. And we expect that to happen, but it’s going to take some time,” said Snow.
But Lebanon’s elite troops told us they could not disarm Hezbollah.
“The army won’t be deployed to south Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, something which Israel wasn’t able to do itself,” said Lebanon’s Defense Minister Elias Murr on the private television station LBC.
In fact, in our review of disarmament plans and procedures we made this conclusion: a normal US Junior High School has a better plan for accounting for basketballs than the UN has as a plan for accounting for Hezbollah’s arms and rockets.
Maybe virtual disarmament
Asked whether anyone would physically have to disarm Hezbollah, Mr. Tony Snow replied: “We’re going to have to see if it comes to that.”
“I don’t think there is an expectation that this force is going to physically disarm Hizbullah,” U.S. Secretary of State Rice said. “I think it’s a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily.”
The confusion, said Timor Goksel, a veteran official with the U.N. peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, is one reason that countries have been reluctant to contribute forces.
“Everybody wants to know what is the exact mission; nobody is happy with this wishy-washy U.N. mandate,” said Goksel, who now teaches at the American University in Beirut.
Troop Strength
Bangladesh made the largest offer of up to 2,000 troops.
The German news magazine der Spiegel reported that, “France has indicated its willingness to send a sizable force, as have Italy, Spain, Malaysia and Indonesia.â€
“At no moment [should] you give the impression that this is an operation conducted by the Western world against the Eastern world,” Ms. Alliot-Marie said.
Thus military power houses Malaysia and Indonesia have critically important roles, the French said.
But accounting for the exact troop strength is problematic.
As today dawned, President Jacques Chirac of France had made his decision. “France will send double what we originally contemplated.â€
And how many troops is that?
“Four hundred,†said the French spokesman.
Four hundred doubled?
“Non, non, non. Four hundred total,†said the French spokesman. “We once thought two hundred. The President has doubled that!â€
Sac le bleau! Mon ami! Heavens! France will command; but only send four hundred troops?
“Absolutemont. It is doubled normal.â€
Oui. Tres bien.
The French decision on troop levels, reported Thursday in the Paris daily Le Monde, sent U.N. officials scrambling during a meeting here to find countries willing to fill the void.
Speaking on French television Wednesday night, French Defense Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said it is important to draw lessons from the mistakes surrounding the current Unifil force, which has a weak mandate and lacks the intelligence capabilities, equipment and expertise to be effective. She said the resolution’s mandate for an expanded force is “fuzzy” and that France isn’t willing to commit more troops until the new force’s role is “broken down” and clarified.
We found other troubling difficulties as well.
The total number of troops cannot be calculated because the contributing nations have not yet verified their contributions.
The Germans offered no ground forces but a sizable naval contingent. Hezbollah’s navy, at least, will be disarmed with German precision.
In fact, as of this writing, there seem to be as many newsmen as peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. But hey told us they refused to disarm Hezbollah.
And Hezbollah is no where to be found. As we predicted in Peace and Freedom, the Hezbollah fighters have drifted away and disappeared.
“They cannot be found and they cannot be disarmed, it is as simple as that,†the French spokesman informed us with a straight face.
In New York
In New York, Arab League members are working to reintroduce to the Security Council the issue of peace in Lebanon.
“The Middle East peace process has failed,” Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said after that meeting. “We are going to the Security Council – this is a unanimous position – to discuss the whole situation from scratch.”
Hate Speech
Not a day goes by in Lebanon without a dose of hate speech.
Thursday, Lebanon’s Majority Leader Saad Hariri blasted both Syria and Israel in a fiery speech.
“The history of Israel is a black history, a hateful one, of destruction,” said Hariri.
“Israeli attacks can destroy Lebanon (physically) but will not touch Lebanese unity,” the top legislator said. According to him, Israel had a history of “living off the blood” of Palestinians, Lebanese and other Arab people.
So as the weekend commences, you in America can rest assured that the world’s international deliberative and peacemaking body is on the scene. The United Nations and the Army of Lebanon are in southern Lebanon, looking for the illusive Hezbollah.
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http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/
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Fuzzi Andrea
Israel should come back to Mr.Tenet’s and Powell’s road map,to deserve the MidEastern endorsement