LATEST NEWS - Israel/Lebanon (Graphic Images)

[Ea$y-8]

Israel delays northern push in Lebanon
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer




Israel grabbed strategic high ground in south Lebanon on Thursday but delayed a major push northward, as diplomats cited progress toward agreement on a U.N. cease-fire resolution that could soon go to a vote.

With Israeli troops closer to Beirut than at any time since the war began, diplomats said they were close to unlocking the stalemate over a U.N. effort toward a cease-fire. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, said a vote was possible on Friday.

The United States and France have been trying to bridge differences over a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Israeli ground troops took control of the mainly Christian town of Marjayoun before dawn and blasted away throughout the day at strongly fortified Hezbollah positions in several directions.

An Israeli soldier was killed and two were wounded in fierce battles with Hezbollah guerrillas Thursday, a day after the Israeli military suffered its worst one-day military loss, with 15 soldiers killed. More than 800 people have died in the month-long conflict, including 715 in Lebanon.

A huge explosion rocked the center of the town and the surrounding countryside about sunset and a big fire could be seen raging from a vantage point in Ibl el-Saqi, about two miles to the east.

By taking Marjayoun the Israeli army was closer to Beirut than at any time since the fighting began July 12 after a cross-border raid in which Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three.

At the same time, the army was still within about five miles of the Israeli border. Marjayoun, which sits near major road junctions in the south, lies due north of Israel's Galilee panhandle that juts north into Lebanon.

Marjayoun was used as the command center for the Israeli army and its allied Lebanese militia during an 18-year occupation of south Lebanon that ended in 2000. The high ground around Marjayoun, including the village of Blatt, overlooks the Litani River valley, one of the staging sites for Hezbollah's relentless rocket assaults on Israel.

Diplomatic efforts had stalled as the Lebanese called for Israeli troops to start pulling out once hostilities end and Beirut sends 15,000 troops of its own to the south, while Israel has insisted on staying in southern Lebanon until a robust international force is deployed, which could take weeks or months.

"We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said.

Suggestions that a new resolution was in the works also emerged.

"A new proposal is being drafted, which has positive significance that may bring the war to an end," Israeli member of parliament Otniel Schneller quoted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying. "But if the draft is not accepted there is the Cabinet decision."

The Israeli Security Cabinet authorized Olmert to expand the current offensive in Lebanon, but Israeli officials said they would hold off to give diplomacy more time to work.

"If we can achieve that by diplomatic means and are sure that there is an intention to implement that document, we shall definitely be in a position where the military operation has achieved diplomatic space and a new situation has been created here in the north," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.

But he warned Israel was ready to use "all of the tools" to cripple Hezbollah if efforts toward a cease-fire failed.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora met twice Thursday with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman. An aide to the Lebanese leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information, said new ideas for ending the fighting involved combining two envisioned resolutions into one overarching document.

Broadly speaking, the U.S.-French draft Security Council resolution called for a cessation of hostilities and the deployment of the Lebanese army into southern Lebanon to the Israeli border, in cooperation with U.N. peacekeepers who are already there. As the Lebanese start deploying, the Israeli army will begin withdrawing, according to council diplomats.

Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat told The Associated Press about 350 Lebanese soldiers and police garrisoned in Marjayoun were taken into custody. Residents said the Israelis also took over one building in the barracks, locked up the ammunition and weapons depot and took away the keys.

An Israel military spokeswoman said troops arrived at a building in the town, where there were soldiers, police and refugees, but only advised them to remain there for their own safety.

"Nobody has been taken prisoner," she said, declining to be identified because military rules did not allow her to make public comments.

Israel reported one of its soldiers was killed and two were wounded in Qleia, just south of Marjayoun, when Hezbollah guerrillas fired a missile at a tank. Hezbollah reported killing as many as 16 Israeli soldiers and destroying 18 tanks.

Two Israeli civilians also died in Hezbollah rocket attacks, an Arab-Israeli mother and her young daughter in the village of Deir al-Assad. Israel reported 160 Hezbollah rockets landed during the day.

On the Lebanese side the death toll was significantly lower than in recent days, with only four people killed, all of them civilians hit in Israeli air and artillery strikes.

More than 800 people in Lebanon and Israel have died since fighting erupted — 715 on the Lebanese side and 121 on the Israeli side.

In Beirut, Israeli warplanes blanketed the downtown area with leaflets that threatened a "painful and strong" response to Hezbollah attacks and warned residents to evacuate three southern suburbs. Other warnings dropped from planes said any trucks on a key northern highway to Syria would be considered targets for attack.

Earlier, missiles from Israeli helicopter gunships blasted the top of a historic lighthouse in central Beirut in an apparent attempt to knock out a broadcast antenna for Lebanese state television.

Top U.N. humanitarian official Jan Egeland criticized Israel and Hezbollah for hindering the delivery of aid to civilians trapped in southern Lebanon, saying it was a "disgrace" they had failed to allow convoys to get through.

Egeland said a plan worked out with Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah to funnel aid through humanitarian corridors has not worked the way each side had promised.

"The Hezbollah and the Israelis could give us access in a heartbeat," Egeland said at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva. "Then we could help 120,000 people in southern Lebanon.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel_953

[Decebalus]

Israel struggles to capture strategic hills

Conal Urquhart in Metulla
Thursday August 10, 2006
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2006/08/10/leb372.jpg
An Israeli artillery unit fires a shell towards Lebanon from its position near the Israeli-Lebanese border. Photograph: Yonathan Weitzman/Reuters


Israeli forces today struggled to secure strategic hills close to the border town of Metulla, despite weeks of bombardment and days of fighting.Dozens of tanks withdrew from hills close to the Lebanese Christian village of Marjayoun this morning and repeatedly came under anti-tank fire as they approached the border. One tank was set ablaze by a missile within a quarter of a mile of the village. The crew climbed on to another tank and were driven to safety.
As more tanks returned, pumping out smoke for cover, several more missiles were fired, narrowly missing their targets and setting light to scrub on the valley floor. A tank crew extinguished the fire in the damaged tank and towed the blackened vehicle to Metulla as Israeli artillery fired shells around it to create dust clouds for cover.
Israeli troops succeeded in taking control of one ridge east of Metulla. Scores of soldiers could be seen standing on the ridge next to a quarry, looking at the action in the valley below.
On a ridge west of Metulla, Hizbullah fighters fired anti-tank missiles, which resembled red darts, across the valley, exploding in a ball of fire on impact.
Throughout the night the valleys were illuminated and shaken by an endless bombardment. Tracer fire and rockets could be seen in the darkness.
There were reports of deaths and casualties in the fighting around Metulla but the Israeli army refused to comment until relatives had been informed.
The problems involved in taking control of the hills close to Metulla are the same all along the border. Although 10,000 troops and hundreds of tanks are deployed, Hizbullah fighters can easily evade them and attack when convenient.
"It is very difficult for a hundred tanks to find small teams of three or four men running over the hillside," said one soldier in Metulla.
According to reports, Israel is trying to remedy its failure to flush out Hizbullah fighters with air strikes and tanks by sending infantry into the villages on foot. Reuters quoted witnesses who saw Israeli troops moving on foot through Marjayoun about five miles inside Lebanon and neighbouring villages.
"I can see two tanks burning some 500 metres from Marjayoun," one resident told the news agency by telephone.
A third tank arrived later and removed several casualties, he said, adding that Hizbullah fighters were raining rocket and mortar fire on the Israeli force between Marjayoun and Khiam.
Both villages are dominated by Christian Maronites who were allied with Israel until it withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.
Hizbullah said in a statement it had destroyed 11 Israeli tanks, killing or wounding their crews in the fighting.
Israel has lost 82 soldiers in the fighting. Yesterday it lost 15, the highest number of fatalities in a single day.
The government decided to expand its operations in Lebanon, allowing the army to move to the Litani river, 18 miles inside Lebanon. However, there is growing dissent within Israel about the war's conduct.
Danny Yatom, a reservist general and senior member of the Labour party, said that moving deeper into Lebanon was pointless. "We are banging our head against the wall," he told Israeli TV. "And even if we reach the Litani, the Katyushas won't stop."
Some 160 rockets were fired at Israel yesterday and the pattern continued today. One rocket hit an Israeli Arab village, killing a two-year-old and an adult.
So far, the fighting has killed 120 Israelis, including 38 civilians. In Lebanon, officials say 711 people have been killed. The death toll among Hizbullah fighters remains unclear.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1841637,00.html

[saigonsmuggler]

Links/Sources ???

ooops - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289490,00.html

[Chucky]

Anti-Tank Weapons Inflict Heavy Losses on Israeli Army

Powerful anti-tank missiles manufactured by Russia and Iran are being used with deadly effectiveness by Hizbollah against the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, military sources say.

A large proportion of the 68 Israeli soldiers who have died in south Lebanon since the start of the offensive a month ago were killed by such missiles.

Top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot reported Aug. 10 that out of 25 anti-tank missiles fired, about one-quarter of them pierced the armor of targeted tanks and caused heavy losses.

Read more
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/Anti-Tank_Weapons_Inflict_Heavy_Losses_on_Israeli_Army.php

[Darth Vidar]

http://www.debka.com/

DEBKAfile Reports: Israel asks US to bring forward delivery of short-range antipersonnel “shoot and scoot” M-26 artillery rockets for Hizballah missile sites in Lebanon

August 11, 2006, 2:16 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israel has asked for the M-26 artillery rockets scheduled for early 2007 to be airlifted now, according to the New York Times. They are designed for rapid consignment to the US army by C-141 Galaxy transports.
Fired in 12-rocket barrages, they carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area (compared with Hizballah’s Katyusha rockets, each of which contains 40,000 tiny steel balls).

DEBKAfile’s military sources add: the M-26 is the last word in this type of rocket. It can be loaded 80 percent faster than the weapons used by the IDF – no more than 5 minutes. This enables a rocket crew to load, shoot and run to safety before the attack, lending the weapon its “shoot and scoot” capability.

Israel is asking for the rockets now because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah’s Katyusha rocket attacks which are killing Israeli civilians every day.

The cluster rocket can penetrate Hizballah fortifications.
A senior US official said the M-26 is likely to be released shortly, along with other arms. But some State Department officials have sought to delay the approval because of concerns that the rockets, while very effective against hidden missile launchers, could cause civilian casualties. Israel will be asked to accept stipulations regarding its use in civilian areas.

The IDF has brought its order forward to fill the gap in its armory of a weapon or a tactic capable of stopping Hizballah’s rocket blitz against northern Israel, one that can also smash the bunker bases out of which they fire a deadly anti-tank cannonade at Israel tanks.

While the civilians of northern know more than they want to know about the effectiveness of the Hizballah rockets blighting their lives, DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that little is heard of damage to the military installations in that part of the country, which are targeted equally by Hizballah. The IDF does not report hits to army bases. Nasrallah’s men use their Katyusha rockets to take the place of artillery weapons which they do not have.

The US-made M-26 is equipped with GPS for finding targets. Its sensors keep the launcher stable in all weathers, including winds blowing within a radius of 100 meters, thereby enhancing its accuracy of fire.

Our military sources comment: The fact that the US rocket was requested only in the third week of the Lebanon war and was not in hand at its outbreak is more evidence of how little Israel’s top brass and northern command knew about the enemy and how-ill-prepared they and the government were to confront him in battle.


.................................

Is this what they are talking about?
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m26.htm

[Darth Vidar]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3289761,00.html

High-ranking officer: Hizbullah leave hiding because of food shortage.

A high-ranking officer in IDF's Northern Command posited that many Hizbullah operatives are leaving their hiding places in recent days because of waning food supplies.

"Many Hizbullah cells hiding in southern Lebanon are coming out, most likely because their food and water resources have been depleted. As a result, there are many clashes between them and IDF forces in all arenas," he said. According to the officer, IDF forces operating in the areas struck six Hizbullah cells in recent days. (Hanan Greenberg)

[Snoshi]

Al-Jazeera reports that HA said that it sunk an Israeli boat with 12 sailors...

[Snoshi]

The Associated Press reports that Hezbollah TV says Hezbollah destroyed an Israeli gunboat off the coast of Tyre, killing or wounding the crew of 12. The Israeli army had no comment.

[Kaplanr]

Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749268.html

The foresight saga

By Ze'ev Schiff

Sometimes a country has to take a slap in the face in order to wake up to the changed reality around it. That's what happened to Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which 2,600 were killed, and in the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which claimed more than 1,000 victims. Now Israel has gotten a s lap during the war with Hezbollah. It is unfortunate that each time, the searing of Israel's consciousness involves losses, destruction and suffering.

In the Arab states, too, there are many who think that the war has created a new reality. In their perception, the Israel Defense Forces is having a hard time subduing Hezbollah. In Syria they are wondering whether the time hasn't come to liberate the Golan Heights by force. Advocates of peace with Israel in the Arab world are on the defensive. If this is the trend, the way is being paved for another round of war.

For many in the Arab world, the campaign between Israel and Hezbollah is part of a larger picture, which also includes the inability of the United States to quash the insurgency in Iraq. The Arabs are seeing that military might is not a guarantee of success. There are also those who understand that in today's situation, it is the intention of Iran, Hezbollah's major supporter, to intervene more than ever in inter-Arab affairs.




Advertisement

Fortunately for Israel, this war erupted before Iran has acquired the ability to threaten the use of nuclear weapons. From this point of view, the war appears to have come too early for Iran's liking - and a good thing, too. Tehran understands that part of the infrastructure it created for Hezbollah will be destroyed in the war, so it is important for it that the border crossings into Lebanon remain open, to enable Hezbollah to be rearmed. The international force that is to be deployed in southern Lebanon will be meaningless if it does not ensure that Iran and Syria are prevented from getting weapons and rockets to Hezbollah.

Internationalization

Israel has always been opposed on principle to having foreign soldiers do its work for it. In the past, Israel's agreements to the deployment of United Nations forces were obtained almost by coercion. Now an international force has to remove Hezbollah's rockets and act as a buffer, shielding Israel.

The IDF's legal department and its Plans and Policy Directorate are finding it difficult to formulate a position concerning the proposal that the multinational force in Lebanon base its activity on the mandate of Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. This chapter allows for the use of force and the imposition of sanctions against anyone who violates a cease-fire. A force of international soldiers, to be led, in this case, by France, might decide that Israel is violating the cease-fire and therefore that it should be subjected to sanctions. A well-known American legal expert, Prof. Anne Bayefsky, warns against such a development.

Tactics

Nothing about the deployment of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon resembles what existed there in the war that began in June 1982. Hezbollah built a system of underground tunnels which recalls what the Vietcong did in Vietnam. Its fighters, who hide in the tunnels and occasionally surface to attack Israeli troops and to fire rockets, had to be removed by means of fuel bombs and similar means. What exists in southern Lebanon was planned by Iranian advisors led by the chief of the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) force in the Revolutionary Guards, Qassam Sulaymani.

In this war, the technology possessed by the IDF, and by the Israel Air Force in particular, makes possible more accurate strikes, both by day and by night. However, the international media also have satellites that can photograph and transmit immediate reports about almost every movement. With their help, Hezbollah is able to forgo much of its intelligence staff, because it receives real-time information about the accuracy of its own hits and about the IDF's movements. Hezbollah can thus easily evaluate Israel's likely moves, even before the government has even discussed them.

Prevention

Shortly after the withdrawal from Lebanon, in May 2000, Israel discovered that Iran had begun sending huge quantities of rockets and other weapons to Hezbollah, and was also training the organization's men. Afterward it emerged that Syria was also supplying heavy rockets to Hezbollah.

This information was made known to prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, but they decided not to launch a preventive war. Barak, who had led the pullout from Lebanon not long before these developments, did not want to send the IDF back into Lebanon. In addition, Israel was in the midst of a serious intifada. Sharon understood well the emerging reality in Lebanon and the dangers inherent in it, but preferred to focus on the Palestinian arena and did not want to open a second front.

The result was that Israel did not take even one defensive measure against the burgeoning convoys of weapons, ammunition stores and rockets. Above all, this policy was adopted because of the apprehension that the international community would view an operation against the rockets in Lebanon as an unjust war of prevention. The conclusion is that a small democracy cannot allow itself to wage a preventive war against a terrorist organization, however dangerous it may be. That prerogative is reserved solely for great powers, and usually only after they have been attacked. There was a time when Israel was more daring in this regard.

Deployment

Israel was not taken by surprise by Hezbollah's military capabilities: Military Intelligence (MI) and the Mossad intelligence organization knew about the developments in the organization. However, when intelligence estimated that there were some 12,000 Katyusha rockets in southern Lebanon, the responses in Israel were: "Stop threatening the nation of Israel," and "Your real goal is to increase the already bloated defense budget." Research institutes and similar bodies devoted little space in their publications to the Hezbollah threat.

On July 22, 2005, I wrote in Haaretz: "It is doubtful whether Israel has a sufficient answer at present to the threat of Hezbollah rockets. Even if you destroy 80 percent of them, over a million residents in the north of the country will continue to sit in shelters." On March 3, 2006, I wrote that Hezbollah, and in effect Iran, already has the ability to strike targets south of Haifa, which involves a sophisticated Iranian move that was carried out in cooperation with Syria and Hezbollah. In the view of some, this does not constitute a strategic threat, because the same targets can be hit by means of terrorist attacks, I wrote, and then asked: Is the fact that some two million people will be confined to shelters and schools, and workplaces will be closed, not a strategic blow!?

A report that was drawn up a few months ago by former minister Dan Meridor and a group of experts stated: "Hezbollah is a significant security threat, mainly because of its rocket capabilities, which cover a substantial portion of the country's area. The Hezbollah threat demands an early and appropriate security deployment, both in the spheres of terrorism and in the spheres of rockets. It calls for the urgent positing of a response to the Hezbollah challenge, and especially to the steep-trajectory threat, in order to make it possible to cope with scenarios of escalation and deterioration."

That is exactly what happened on July 12.

There were also other opinions. For example, the GOC Northern Command, Major General Udi Adam, stated in an address in February that while Hezbollah was indeed becoming stronger, it was moving in a political direction. "Hezbollah is digging in, but it's not terrible that it is building outposts, because these make good targets for Israel," Adam said at the time.

Deterrence

Vanquishing large terrorist organizations militarily is not like vanquishing regular armies. Former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon believes that a guerrilla organization can be defeated in a prolonged war of attrition. It will not be a knockout, but a victory on points. True, intolerable damage can be inflicted on Hezbollah, from which it will take the organization years to recover. It is not true that guerrillas have always won. In some cases the "price" that was exacted from them was too great to enable them to persist with their threat. The problem is that exacting a "price" intensifies the hatred of the population on which the guerrilla organization relies.

It is impossible to persuade Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to forsake his messianic ideas, at the center of which is his ambition to destroy Israel. Many in Lebanon and in the Arab states understand how dangerous he is - not only to Israel, but also to many Arabs. Still, there are ways to influence his organization. For example, the Syrians, during their period in Lebanon, were able to restrain Hezbollah in certain cases. That situation has changed.

The present war will undoubtedly serve to deter Nasrallah in the future. But in regard to other Arab elements, it is very possible that Israeli deterrence will be somewhat undercut. On the one hand, these elements understand that Israel is capable of reacting with cruel "craziness" if a certain red line is crossed. But on the other hand, they may reach the conclusion that the way to hurt Israel and bring about its withdrawal is not by means of tanks and planes, but by firing thousands of rockets and missiles at the country.

This should not be construed to mean that Israel's deterrent capability failed in all the limited confrontations. In the past, Israel succeeded in its war against the PLO, even though that organization fired Katyushas into the country from Lebanon. Israel succeeded in those confrontations when the other side had something to lose. Those confrontations generally ended in a broad war in which Israel achieved a temporary victory - until the next round. According to the conclusions of a study by Yuval Knaan, from the University of Haifa, Israel's achievements when it bombed infrastructures in Lebanon were generally limited.

Victory

An interesting argument was conducted in Israel in recent years between the intelligence chiefs and the commanders of the air force about whether air power is capable of vanquishing a terrorist organization and eliminating the rocket threat. In a discussion convened by former prime minister Sharon, the MI director at the time, Major General Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash, said that the political echelon should not be misled into believing that a complete solution exists for the problem of the rockets. In another discussion, held at Northern Command headquarters, the GOC Northern Command at the time, Benny Gantz, said, "If such is the case, we have to prepare for a protracted ground move." Apparently, his proposal-demand was not internalized.

Precisely because intelligence understood this point well, the IDF's failure, overall, in preparing a comprehensive combat doctrine to wage war against short-range rockets is so pronounced. The air force knew it would have difficulties in this sphere, and therefore a broader operational response was needed, along with significant investments in research and development.

Former IAF commander David Ivry wrote in a publication of the Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies that air power cannot be victorious by itself in the war against terrorism. Tactical intelligence in the war on terror, Ivry noted, is the dominant element and the most difficult to achieve; it cannot be attained solely from the air, because technological solutions are insufficient for this purpose. Ivry undoubtedly recalled the failure of the Americans to damage the Iraqi network of missiles that attacked Israel in 1991; clearly he was aware of the lack of a substantive victory by Israel at the end of Operation Grapes of Wrath in Lebanon, in 1996, which made use primarily of air power.

Of exceptional interest is the approach of the chief of staff (and former commander of the IAF), Dan Halutz, who is conducting the present war. He made the following remarks in a discussion at the National Defense College in January 2001, but they illustrate his strategic conception today: "Many air operations were generally implemented without a land force, based on a worldview of Western society's sensitivity to losses. A land force is not sent into action as long as there is an effective alternative. Small forces, in commando format, have been utilized. The IAF is a partner in or decides wars.

"This obliges us to part with a number of anachronistic assumptions. First of all, that victory equals territory. Victory means achieving the strategic goal and not necessarily territory. I maintain that we also have to part with the concept of a land battle. We have to talk about the integrated battle and about the appropriate force activating it. Victory is a matter of consciousness. Air power affects the adversary's consciousness significantly."

The future

Many of the IDF's training booklets will likely undergo reexamination after the present war. The IDF has to examine itself in regard to "counter-fire" and to maneuvering whose goal is not the seizure and holding of territory. An additional effort will have to be made in the sphere of intelligence. Successes in hitting targets require that different ways be found to renew the "bank of targets," even when they exist in a civilian milieu. In this kind of war, technology that makes it possible to locate and strike at terrorist leaders is of the utmost importance.

After the American failure against the Scud missiles in 1991, a few Arab states and Iran stepped up the development of surface-to-surface missiles. This process will be even further accelerated in the wake of Hezbollah's rocket attack on Israel. The Palestinians, too, will undoubtedly intensify the development of Qassam rockets and the smuggling of Katyusha rockets into the territories. Israel must prevent by force the continuation of this "festival of rockets" against its populations. Against the Palestinians two levels are required: genuine political negotiations and instilling in them the knowledge that Israel will not be merciful if rockets hit its citizens.

It is more complicated to promote a satisfactory solution against a rocket and missile threat in general. After the 1973 war, Israel studied its failure to cope with the antiaircraft missiles that hit its planes and was able to change the situation. The same thing must now be done with regard to the surface-to-surface missiles and the rockets. This will be a difficult and expensive effort. In addition, Israel must make it clear that if it is attacked, it will exact a steep strategic price from its enemies. At the same time, we must not ignore what we have long known: Power has limits, especially when wielded by a small country.

[Kaplanr]

Ynet (Yediot Achronot) http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289572,00.html

Hizbullah declares victory

In latest video aired on Al-Manar TV terror group says it ‘defeated the invincible army’[/b]
Roee Nahmias


Hizbullah did not wait for the official UN Security Council announcement on a ceasefire and launched its own media campaign declaring it had 'won the war against Israel.'

In the latest video aired on Al-Manar TV the terror group says it “defeated the invincible army” and “July-August 2006: Legend shattered.”

The new video clips show thousands of supporters waving Hizbullah and Lebanon flags. These clips, which are aired between regularly-scheduled programs, include excerpts from Hassan Nasrallah speeches in which he had promised victory; similar videos were aired during the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese government is preparing for war’s conclusion; Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabi Berri to discuss the deployment of the army in the south. Some reports said a Hizbullah member also took part in the meeting, but Berri’s associates denied the reports.

It was also reported that Arab League and Lebanese representatives met in New York with US and French officials.

'Honorable way out'

It appears that Lebanon will agree to the compromise offer according to which the IDF will gradually pull out of the country. Last Wednesday Nasrallah said in his speech that Hizbullah supported a decision by the Lebanese government, which includes a Hizbullah minister, to deploy 15,000 troops to the border if that would bolster Lebanon's calls for the resolution to include a demand for Israel's immediate withdrawal from the south.

"If everyone sees that deploying the army will help find a way out politically that would result in the halting of aggression ... This for us is a national and honorable way out," he said.

Lebanese officials estimate that Iran and Syria will not oppose a ceasefire deal; this seems reasonable in light of the fact that the two countries have repeatedly called for a ceasefire, apparently in a bid to keep Hizbullah from collapsing so that it may take part in future confrontations with Israel.

(08.11.06, 02:53)

[Zerodivider]

'Israeli War Boat Sunk In Attack'
Updated: 14:43, Friday August 11, 2006

Hizbollah claims it has attacked and destroyed an Israeli gunboat.

More follows . .


http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1230660,00.html

[NimDod]

dont bother quoting "Debka". its not a news site.
there is no "Debka sources". in reality its an elderly couple who make up stories.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebanon rejects ceasefire draft proposal

Latest ceasefire proposal does not call for disarming terror group as precondition to ceasefire; according to deal being formulated, IDF will gradually pull out of Lebanon and will be replaced by an international force including 10,000 French troops
Ronny Sofer

Feverish contacts have been held Friday in the UN building in New York in an attempt to agree on a draft proposal calling for a ceasefire between Hizbullah and Israel.

While cautious optimism was expressed in Lebanon, nevertheless, the Lebanese foreign minister said the draft was unacceptable to him. Meanwhile, Russia decided to submit its own draft for an immediate ceasefire.

Earlier, sources in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office expressed cautious optimism early Friday regarding the possibility that the latest American diplomatic maneuver will in fact lead to a ceasefire.

The proposal will call for Hizbullah’s disarmament in accordance with UN Resolution 1559, but this will not be declared a precondition for reaching a ceasefire.

However, the proposal does require the return of the kidnapped IDF soldiers to Israel.

France retracted its demand for the withdrawal of IDF forces to the international border as a ceasefire precondition.

As a result of the deal being formulated, the IDF will gradually pull out of Lebanon and will be replaced by an international force under the auspices of the UN and with Lebanese government consent.

The international force will include 10,000 French troops, and perhaps more from Spain and other countries, who will deploy in south Lebanon along with UNIFIL and 15,000 Lebanese soldiers.

The force will deploy in a buffer zone free of Hizbullah terrorists and in Lebanon-Syria border crossings.

The international force will be tasked with preventing the smuggling of Katyusha rockets and arms from Syria and Iran to Lebanon, but it will not disarm Hizbullah.

The Security Council is expected to vote on the ceasefire plan within the next two days.

Hizbullah, for its part, announced that it would not abide by any UN Security Council decision that would not call for the withdrawal of IDF troops from Lebanon.

'International community understands'

Lebanese media said the terror group continues to back Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s “Seven-Point” plan.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said “the proposal does not coincide with Lebanon’s goals because it does not call for an immediate ceasefire and (Israeli) withdrawal. The decision also discriminates against Lebanese prisoners (due to the call for the release of the kidnapped IDF troops).”

Following talks with US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch in Jerusalem, Olmert said “at this time, a new diplomatic formula with positive implications that could end the fighting is being formulated. If it isn't accepted, Israel will take off the gloves."

Sources in the PM’s Office said the chances for a ceasefire that would meet Israel’s requirements are “50-50.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also met with Welch in a bid to formulate a ceasefire proposal that would be accepted by Israel.

However, Olmert did not authorize Livni to travel to New York, where she was scheduled to discuss the ceasefire proposal with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

A senior official at the PM’s Office said Olmert did not want any more pressure to be applied on Israel as a result of Livni’s presence in the UN.

Meanwhile the prime minister and Defense Minister Amir Peretz instructed the army to put the next phase of its ground operation in south Lebanon on hold to prevent further escalation and after the White House apparently made it clear that such a move would be detrimental to the diplomatic efforts.

However, a source in Jerusalem said “The international community understands that we cannot accept the continued rocket fire on northern Israel.”

Yitzhak Benhorin contributed to the report

First Published: 08.11.06, 02:13
Latest Update: 08.11.06, 09:42

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289568,00.html

[Snoshi]

Hezbollah TV reported Friday that Hezbollah forces destroyed an Israeli gunboat off the coast of Tyre, killing or wounding the crew of 12, The Associated Press reported.

The Israeli military denied the Hezbollah claim, AP said.

While Hezbollah says it has struck several Israeli vessels, Israel says there has been only one hit, a strike on July 14 that killed four Israeli sailors, AP reported.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/11/mideast.main/index.html

Edit

IDF said that no IDF naval vesseles were hit by HA.
http://newsru.co.il/mideast/11aug2006/kater.html

[alexz]

Breaking news
Israeli "defense minister" gives the IDF green light to advance into Lebanon
as there is no cease fire agreement.
Details to comes soon.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289808,00.html

[Notlim]

Third Israeli warship hit


more news maybe is for real

Hezbollah claims sinking of Israeli Super Dvora gunboat


http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/08/hezbollah_claim.php

[Zerodivider]

Jets Fire On Convoy
Updated: 20:26, Friday August 11, 2006

Israeli jets have fired on a convoy fleeing southern Lebanon, causing at least 10 casualties, rescue workers have said.

More follows...


http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1230684,00.html

[One]

Jets Fire On Convoy
Updated: 20:26, Friday August 11, 2006

Israeli jets have fired on a convoy fleeing southern Lebanon, causing at least 10 casualties, rescue workers have said.

More follows...


http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1230684,00.html

LBCI: thats the same convoy that left marjayoun with the 350 soldeirs/cops along with the civilians.

[GiladS]

UN troops to be deployed in southern Lebanon

Crucial evening: Olmert, Peretz approve large-scale ground offensive in southern Lebanon as UN agrees on draft resolution for truce, which Israeli sources say is 'good' for Israel and which authorize deployment of 15,000 peacekeepers

Is the region heading for all-out war or a ceasefire? That's the question that's hanging in the balance on Friday as the United Nations Security Council meets to vote on a draft French-US resolution for a ceasefire in the Middle East.

The 15 Council members are expected to vote on the draft at 1 am Israel time. If approved, the resolution would authorize the deployment of 15,000 UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support Lebanon's deployment to the region "as Israel withdraws."

The draft, would ask the UN force to monitor a full cessation of hostilities and help Lebanese forces gain full control over an area that has previously been under de facto control of Hizbullah guerillas.

The text of the draft says the force's mandate would include several elements: monitoring the cessation of hostilities, accompanying Lebanese troops as they deploy and as Israel withdraws, and ensuring humanitarian access to the area.

The five permanent members – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – have agreed on the resolution, which seeks an ending to the fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and the Hizbullah.

Council members discussed the draft as Israel gave its army the green light to launch a large-scale ground offensive against Hizbullah and to capture Lebanese territory stretching as far north as the Litani River.

In Jerusalem, officials said the government will look at the articles of the draft resolution before accepting the stipulated ceasefire conditions.

But sources in Jerusalem told Ynet that the draft is "good" for Israel (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284752,00.html%20) .

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice update Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with discussion over the draft between US and French diplomats.

Defense officials said once the operation is launched it is difficult to stop it.

In Lebanon, Minister Fuad SIniora received a copy Friday evening of the US-French draft, Lebanese government officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Siniora was studying the document and contacting politicians in his country for their input. The officials refused to say who Siniora was talking with, but the leading Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation said he was in touch with Hezbollah officials as well as parliament speaker Nabih Berri, Hizbullah's de facto negotiator.

Ronny Sofer contributed to this report




Link (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289870,00.html)
....

[TuNeRsHaRk]

looks like were getting pretty close to a peace deal here

[DeltaWhisky58]

looks like were getting pretty close to a peace deal here

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/11/mideast.main/index.html

Please post actual NEWS - not your comments plus a link - see previous 1,000+ posts.

[GiladS]

IDF operation rolling despite UNSC meeting


Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the IDF on Friday to send additional ground forces into Lebanon and up to the Litani river, some 30 kilometers from Israel.

Hours later, France and the United States announced that they had reached a deal on a final draft resolution (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525849052&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) aimed at ending the month-long conflict. A vote on the cease-fire draft will take place at 1 a.m. IST. Israel has yet to respond to the draft and it remained unclear as to how it would affect the decision to expand the IDF operation in southern Lebanon.

Before news broke out that an agreement has been reached, Olmert's spokesman, Asaf Shariv, told The Associated Press that the expanded incursion had already begun. According to Shariv, the emerging cease-fire fails to meet Israel's basic requirements, such as stationing robust international combat troops in southern Lebanon once Israel withdraws.
"Yesterday we were very optimistic, but they (the Security Council) took the wrong turn," Shariv said.

The government is implementing Wednesday's Cabinet decision granting the army permission to carry out a massive ground offensive "to deal with the Hizbullah positions in south Lebanon, from which barrages of missiles continue to be launched against the Israeli civilian population," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Regev added, however, that Israel was still open to a negotiated solution as the UN Security Council prepared to vote on the proposed cease-fire deal.

"Our action does not exclude a diplomatic option. On the contrary, we are following developments in New York closely. But so far diplomacy has not produced concrete results and it is incumbent upon the government to defend its citizens," Regev said.

The IDF has over the passed few days been gearing up for the operation which was approved by the Security Cabinet on Wednesday. According to military sources, close to 70 percent of the Katyusha rockets raining down on Israel are fired just south of, and north of the Litani river. It is in these parts of Lebanon that the Hizbullah's Nasser Unit is waiting with thousands of fighters and functioning command and control centers.

As the decision was made by Peretz and Olmert to order the IDF to move up to the Litani, talks were underway at the United Nations Security Council in New York where it appeared that member countries were on the verge of declaring a cease-fire in the region.

IDF sources said that even if a cease-fire was in the works, Israel was better off being in a better position militarily - at the Litani, and from there to conduct negotiations regarding a cease-fire resolution.

IDF officers on Thursday blasted the diplomatic echelon claiming that Olmert had restrained and limited the military from expanding its ground operations into Lebanon and from dealing a heavy blow to Hizbullah.
40,000 troops were waiting along the northern border for orders to enter Lebanon and to push up to the Litani, and an additional 7000 were currently operating on the ground in Lebanon.

A high ranking defense source told the Jerusalem Post that already early in the morning it was apparent that negotiations at the UN would not bear fruit and diplomats there would not succeed in mutually drafting a cease-fire.
The source said that Peretz and Olmert met for several hours on Friday and reviewed different drafts of the resolution, "once it became clear that there would not be a resolution in the near future, the decision was made for the IDF to launch the operation."

"We gave the diplomatic process a chance, it failed and now we will achieve our goals militarily," said the officer.
The IDF said that it would take at least one week to get to the Litani river and another 4-6 weeks to clear out Hizbullah presence and rocket launchers from the area.



Link (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1154525855062&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)

[DeltaWhisky58]

UN to vote on Lebanon ceasefire

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41424000/jpg/_41424967_soldiers_afp203body.jpg
Israel is pursuing both a military and diplomatic strategy

The UN Security Council is set to discuss and vote on a new draft resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

It reportedly calls for a "full cessation of hostilities", then for Israeli troops to withdraw as Lebanese and UN forces deploy in the south.
It is said to authorise the deployment of 15,000 UN peacekeepers.
It came hours after Israeli PM Ehud Olmert ordered his army to prepare to widen its ground offensive in Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon have both been given the new draft.
However, UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said sponsors of the text - the US and France - would push for a vote late on Friday regardless of their response.

'Expanded force'

According to reports, the new draft calls for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon... the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations".

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif Our action does not exclude a diplomatic option http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Mark Regev
Israeli foreign ministry

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

The shadow of Iraq (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4780847.stm)
UN push for breakthrough (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4782125.stm)
Mid East crisis: Key maps (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/5177932.stm)

It is also said to authorise "an increase in the force strength of Unifil [the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon] to a maximum of 15,000 troops".
Unifil currently comprises just under 2,000 troops.
Reports say the expanded force would monitor an Israeli withdrawal and support the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south.
The draft is said to authorise the expanded Unifil to "take all necessary action" necessary for its operations.
It is believed to have omitted an earlier reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which authorises the use of force, following objections from Lebanon.
The BBC's Rob Norris in Jerusalem says Israeli officials say the draft gives grounds for optimism, describing it as satisfactory - positive, although not perfect.
If the resolution is adopted in its current form, they say, Israel could live with it, even though it has not got everything it wanted, our correspondent adds.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is at the UN in New York, where the draft has been presented to the Security Council.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is also due there later.

'Convoy hit'

As the diplomats finalised the draft, Israel radio said troops had been ordered to seize ground as far as the strategic Litani River, up to 30km (18 miles) from the Israeli border.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41419000/jpg/_41419931_un_ap203body.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

Send us your comments (http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=2901&edition=1)
Diary: Getting aid through (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4783047.stm)

The plan to expand ground operations was approved on Wednesday but was put on hold by Mr Olmert to give more time for diplomacy to bear fruit.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel's action "does not exclude a diplomatic option... But so far diplomacy has not produced concrete results and it is incumbent upon the government to defend its citizens".
Israeli officials said the expanded ground offensive would be called off if Israel found the resolution acceptable.
As the diplomacy continued, fresh violence took a further toll on both Israel and Lebanon.
At least four people were killed when an Israeli drone attacked a convoy of hundreds of cars fleeing the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanese witnesses and security officials said.
Earlier, 12 civilians were killed when Israeli jets struck a bridge at crossing on the Lebanon-Syria border, Lebanese sources said. There have also been renewed Israeli air strikes on southern areas of Beirut. In Israel, several people were wounded when Hezbollah fired several volleys of missiles into the north of the country.

BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4785001.stm)

[DeltaWhisky58]

UN rights body backs Israel probe

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41980000/jpg/_41980968_beirutafpstory203.jpg
Some Israeli bombs have hit residential areas

The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to send a team to Lebanon to investigate alleged abuses by Israel.

The council approved the resolution, proposed by a group of states led by Islamic countries, by 27 votes to 11.
Many of the resolution's opponents criticised it for not mentioning Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
Addressing the emergency session in Geneva, the UN's human rights chief, Louise Arbour, chided both sides for inflicting suffering on civilians.
"Israeli attacks affecting civilians continue unabated," she told a special session of the UN Human Rights Council.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif War crimes and crimes against humanity may be committed even by those who believe... their cause a worthy pursuit http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Louise Arbour
UN human rights commissioner

"Also unrelenting is Hezbollah's indiscriminate shelling of densely populated centres in northern Israel," she said.
The resolution alleges systematic human rights violations by Israel using terms like war crimes, crimes against humanity and massacres.
Israel and the United States, although not members of the council, urged a vote against, calling the resolution unbalanced.
European Union countries, alongside Japan and Canada, voted against, calling it one-sided and divisive.
Those voting for included China, Russia, India, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Zambia and South Africa, as well as members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The Israeli ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, said civilians on both sides were suffering but some council members were ignoring Hezbollah's "vicious campaign of terror".
But Lebanon's ambassador, Gebran Soufan, made an impassioned plea for support, saying the world's top human rights body could not neglect the suffering taking place in his country.
The resolution passed highlights once again the bitter divisions of the Middle East, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes says.
Human rights groups and aid agencies struggling to bring relief to Lebanon all agree the humanitarian situation in the region is becoming catastrophic, our correspondent notes. But this resolution, revealing once again just how politicised the United Nations can be, is probably not what they were looking for, she adds. More than 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed in the month-long conflict, Lebanon says. Some 123 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.

BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4783511.stm)

[DeltaWhisky58]

In pictures: Lebanon conflict

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423477_lebaseven.jpg

Israel has continued its air strikes against Lebanon, including in the southern suburbs of Beirut, as diplomats at the UN try to reach an agreement on a truce.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423517_lebanine.jpg

Hezbollah has also maintained its rocket fire into Israel, hitting among other targets the northern city of Haifa.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423469_lebasix.jpg

And fighting continues between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423455_lebatwo.jpg

Indonesian soldiers prepare in Jakarta ahead of possible peacekeeping duties in Lebanon. Israel says it will fight until the new foreign troops are in place.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423457_lebathree.jpg

Tensions remain high in Israel as Palestinians, prevented from reaching Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, pray on the street.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423459_lebafour.jpg

Residents of southern Beirut move out. EU chief Javier Solana is due in the city on Friday for talks with PM Fouad Siniora.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423461_lebafive.jpg

Relatives mourn Israeli soldier Yasmau Yalau as he is buried near Tel Aviv. More than 1,000 Lebanese and more than 120 Israelis have been killed.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41423000/jpg/_41423449_lebaone.jpg

An anti-Israeli protest at the US consulate in Istanbul. The pressure is increasing on diplomats, but Russia has said a truce agreement could be a long way off.

Back (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#)
1 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 2 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 3 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 4 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 5 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 6 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 7 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) 8 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#) Next (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm#)



BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm)

[Aerosoul]

Israeli PM endorses U.N. cease-fire deal
By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20060811/i/ra507286628.jpg?x=234&y=345&sig=D7Rexu4YPfCto4cfbHhtPA--

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endorsed an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal late Friday, after a day of dramatic day brinksmanship including a threat to expand the ground war in Lebanon.

The agreement calls for the deployment of 30,000 Lebanese and U.N. troops along the Israel-Lebanon border. It falls short of some of Israel's demands, including a strong mandate for the U.N. forces to take on Hezbollah guerrillas.
However, the draft is the best chance yet for peace after more than four weeks of war that has killed more than 800 people, destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure and inflamed tensions across the Middle East.

Neither the Lebanese government nor Hezbollah has said publicly whether they would sign on to the deal, but it was widely assumed that they did not object to it. Plans to take the resolution to a vote were announced in New York shortly after U.S. Mideast envoy, Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, met for a second time Friday with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060811/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel)

[theclash]

Source: BBC/PA

UN vote backs Lebanon ceasefire

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a new resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.The resolution calls for an end to hostilities, and for Israel to pull out as Lebanese troops and a stronger UN force deploy in the south.

The governments of Lebanon and Israel are both expected to discuss the plan over the weekend.

Hours earlier, Israel's PM Ehud Olmert ordered his army to prepare to widen its offensive in southern Lebanon.

Officials say Ehud Olmert will ask the Israeli cabinet to endorse the resolution at a meeting on Sunday, until which time the Israeli military offensive will continue.

Lebanese leaders have examined the text, and an adviser to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora gave the resolution a cautious welcome.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan opened the Security Council session by calling for members to back the resolution unanimously, and lamenting the UN's failure to act sooner to end fighting in the Middle East.

He said the widely perceived delay in drafting a resolution had "badly shaken" faith in the UN.

'Expanded force'

According to reports, the new draft calls for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon... the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations".

It is also said to authorise "an increase in the force strength of Unifil [the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon] to a maximum of 15,000 troops".
Unifil currently comprises just under 2,000 troops.

The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said the strengthened Unifil would not be the same force currently in the region.

Unifil would be expanded, given a new mandate and new equipment in order to maintain peace, she told the Security Council.

The draft is believed to have omitted an earlier reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which authorises the use of force, following objections from Lebanon.

The BBC's Rob Norris in Jerusalem says Israeli officials say the draft gives grounds for optimism, describing it as satisfactory - positive, although not perfect.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called the adoption of the resolution "a historic turning point".

However, the foreign minister of Qatar, which currently sits on the Security Council, said the resolution still contained imbalances in favour of Israel.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4785001.stm

[SeanAshi]

Israeli Objections to Ceasefire Proposal

Former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom of the Likud has stinging criticism of the ceasefire plan being formulated in the United Nations. He calls it a "disgrace" and a "historic tragedy."

Shalom, who served as Foreign Minister under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for nearly three years until early this year, said that the proposal under consideration by the Security Council "mortgages the country's future" and would be a "weeping for generations."

Lebanon, too, has objections, which may cause another delay in the Council vote. Lebanon feels that the Shab'a Farms area, which it still demands from Israel, is not significantly mentioned, nor does it like the fact that the international peacekeeping force would be empowered to open fire. Lebanon also insists that Israel withdraw entirely from south Lebanese territory before any ceasefire is carried out.

Israel initially objected to the ceasefire proposal for its lack of a clause requiring Hizbullah to disarm prior to a ceasefire. Nonetheless, Jerusalem appears willing to accept the proposal.

Israel has rejected a Russian proposal to hold a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, says it would only give Hizbullah ”time to regroup and recover. We think this is a bad idea."

Speaking with Voice of Israel Radio on Friday morning, Minister Shalom said if the UN proposal is accepted, "Israel's position would be worse than it was at the beginning of the war: It does not call for a large multi-national force in southern Lebanon, Hizbullah would not be disarmed, and a parallel is made between our abducted soldiers and murderous Lebanese terrorists held by Israel such as Samir Kuntar."

"It could even be," Shalom said, "that Syria might conclude that it can get the Golan Heights back by sending over some missiles to Israel."

Shalom's party colleague, former Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuval Shteinitz, took an even stronger stance. If Israel accepts this "shameful" ceasefire, Shteinitz said Friday morning, "the government must resign and new elections must be held."

Shteinitz took issue with the fact that the new proposal would replace Resolution 1559 of two years ago, which calls for the Lebanese Army to take over southern Lebanon from Hizbullah:
"The fact that Israel is willing to significantly erode 1559, and even give Hizbullah a territorial achievement in the form of half of Israel's Mt. Hermon (Shab'a) will be understood as a clear victory for Hizbullah. This will invite a difficult war of rockets and commandos from Syria in the near future."

"If this is an existential war, as [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert said, then the results of it are dangerous to Israel's existence," Shteinitz concluded.

On the other hand, the left-wing peace forces are pleading with the government to accept the ceasefire proposal. Meretz MK Zahava Gal'on said, "It is in Israel's interest to accept this plan and to thus end the warfare. Israel must take advantage of the agreement being formed to call for the inclusion of Syria in the negotiations, and to thus turn it into an entity with which we can reach a diplomatic agreement."

A diplomatic agreement with Syria, almost by definition, would entail ceding the Golan Heights to that country. Run Olmert out of office the sooner the better.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=109802

[GiladS]

Senior officers: Operation to continue as planned

Sources in Jerusalem say no contradiction between UN move, war in field; note ceasefire will anyway wait for multinational force's arrival. On Sunday, Olmert to recommend cabinet accept outline; meanwhile, air strikes continue, IDF prepares for massive ground entry
Ronny Sofer

While an agreement on a ceasefire in the Middle East was being formed at the United Nations Security Council, senior Israel (http://javascript<b></b>:if(typeof(DanaDeferEval)!=) Defense Forces officers said that the wide-scale operation – approved by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz in accordance with the cabinet decision – will be launched as planned.

The goal: Arriving at the Litani River, a move which according to the army's estimates will take a week, and another four to six weeks to establish the line and mop up the area.

On Friday night, Lebanese sources reported that two transformers were hit, darkening the Tyre area. It was also reported that an Israeli drone fired missiles into a convoy of refugees fleeing attacks in the southern town of Marjayoun, killing seven and wounding 40.

In total, according to the IDF, more than 120 air strikes were carried out on Friday, including bombings of about 60 buildings and headquarters used by Hizbullah, routes and bridges, three petrol stations and eight rocket launchers.

On the northern border, forces prepared for a massive entry into the field, in accordance with the "green light" received from the political echelon. Officials in Jerusalem claimed that there was no contradiction between the decisions in New York and the expansion of the operation, as also according to the proposed outline, the ceasefire will only come into force upon the arrival of a multinational force, and it will be carried out gradually and in parallel to the IDF's withdrawal from the area.

Diplomatic sources stressed that Israel will operate the military force considering the diplomatic agreement considerations.

"If the diplomatic agreement will satisfy us and will lead to halting the fire and achieving the goals defined, the fire will stop. But if the fire continues and Hizbullah will still be near Israel's border and threaten its citizens, the military operation will continue forcefully as approved by the cabinet," a source said.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to recommend that the cabinet adopt the draft discussed at the Security Council.

Hanan Greenberg contributed to the report


Link (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289909,00.html)

....

[GiladS]

Israel satisfied with changes made to cease-fire resolutionhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gifhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gif

The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution that calls for a halt to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office as well as those close to Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni expressed satisfaction at the changes made to the draft UN Security Council cease-fire resolution (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749631.html) agreed upon by the U.S. and France, senior aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Friday night.

Olmert will recommend to his ministers Sunday that the cabinet vote in favor of the resolution.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gifhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gifFrance and the United States reached a deal Friday on a final draft resolution aimed at ending the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and announced the UN Security Council would vote on the text later Friday. Security Council member states convened at 10:00 P.M. Israel time to deliberate over the resolution.

The resolution authorizes the deployment of 15,000 UN peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon as Israel withdraws.

Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said the resolution would give the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon an enhanced mandate to help coordinate the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops. But it would ultimately be deployed under Chapter 6 of the UN Charter - which Israel has previously opposed.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke Friday morning with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Livni demanded that the international force be defined under Chapter 7 and not a modified version of chapter 6 as the French representatives offered. Chapter 7 affords powers of enforcement to the peacekeeping force.

A host of senior diplomats were on hand for the draft's adoption, underscoring the significance of the moment. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy all planned to cast their country's ballot. "You never get a deal like this with everybody getting everything that they want," Beckett said. "The question is, has everybody got enough for this to stick and for it to be enforceable? Nobody wants to go back to where we were before this last episode started."

Despite Lebanese objections, Israel will be allowed to continue defensive
operations, and a dispute over the Shaba Farms area along the
Syria-Lebanon-Israel border will be left for later. Israel will not get its wish for an entirely new multinational force separate from the UN
peacekeepers that have been stationed in south Lebanon since 1978.

There is also no call for the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel or a demand for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops. Although the draft resolution emphasizes the need for the "unconditional release" of the two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture by Hezbollah sparked the conflict, that call is not included in the list of steps required for a lasting cease-fire.

Diplomats acknowledged each side would have to make sacrifices but said the negotiators' key goal had been to come up with a draft that spells out a lasting political solution to the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border.

At the heart of the resolution are two elements: It seeks an immediate halt to the fighting that began July 12 when Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli troops along the Blue Line, the UN-demarcated border separating Israel and Lebanon; and it spells out a series of steps that would lead to a permanent cease-fire and long-term solution.

That would be done by creating a new buffer zone in south Lebanon "free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL" - the acronym of the UN force deployed in the region since 1978. The force now has 2,000 troops; the resolution would expand it to a maximum of 15,000.

South Lebanon had been under de facto Hezbollah control for several years until Israeli forces occupied parts of it after the start of the fighting last month. The political solution would include implementation of previous Security Council resolutions calling for Hezbollah's disarmament.

Under the resolution, UNIFIL would be significantly beefed up to help
coordinate when 15,000 Lebanese troops deploy to the region. As Lebanese forces take control of the south, Israeli troops would withdraw.

Israel is chiefly concerned that Hezbollah not be allowed to regain its
strength in south Lebanon once a cessation of hostilities goes into effect. It had originally demanded the creation of a new multinational force separate from UNIFIL, which it claimed was powerless.

The U.S., which had shared Israel's concerns, believes that UNIFIL
would essentially become so strong that it will not resemble the weaker force it once was. "It is, as we see it in this resolution, a robust force and one that's capable of meeting the job," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

A senior U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. and France envision a 10-day timeframe between the moment a halt to the hostilities is declared and the moment UNIFIL troops go into action in the south.

The draft asks U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to come up with proposals within 30 days on resolving various border disputes including the one over Sheba Farms. Lebanon had wanted a direct demand in the draft that Sheba Farms be put under UN control. Lebanon had also wanted the draft to call for the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. Yet the draft only asks that the issue of those prisoners be worked out.


Link (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749488.html)

....

[TheMacedonian]

This is from the CNN website and I HOPE IT IS FALSE reporting and I do hope it is an error as we all know we can not trust reporters.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0608/06/rs.01.html

And joining us now here Washington Anne Compton who covers the White House for ABC News, and Thomas Ricks, Pentagon reporter for "The Washington Post" and author of the new book "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq."

Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other? THOMAS RICKS, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think it will be. But I think civilian casualties are also part of the battlefield play for both sides here. One of the things that is going on, according to some U.S. military analysts, is that Israel purposely has left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon.

KURTZ: Hold on, you're suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of it's fire power, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here?

RICKS: Yes, that's what military analysts have told me.

KURTZ: That's an extraordinary testament to the notion that having people on your own side killed actually works to your benefit in that nobody wants to see your own citizens killed but it works to your benefit in terms of the battle of perceptions here.

RICKS: Exactly. It helps you with the moral high ground problem, because you know your operations in Lebanon are going to be killing civilians as well.

_---------------------------------------------------

so before you go after me I just read it, found it interesting and post it here and if it is true then some one should answer for it.

So far at least one reporter has been found falsifing photos for PR purposes.

[saigonsmuggler]

The High Price of Israel's Hubris

If the country's military hadn't rejected a U.S. offer to supply it with "bunker buster" bombs four years ago, it might not be having as tough a time against Hizballah - or being criticized for its handling of the war
By TIM MCGIRK/JERUSALEM
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHORAnalysis: Behind Israel's Delayed Invasion
Diplomacy: The Deal That Could Disarm Hizballah
Related Blogs: Click here for blog postings from around the web that are related to the topic of this article.

Posted Friday, Aug. 11, 2006
In 2002, the Pentagon offered to supply Israel with "bunker-buster" bombs, capable of punching deep into the enemy's underground defenses. Israel's air force chief at the time, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, — who, as Chief of Staff, is currently commanding Israel's air, sea and land strikes in Lebanon — rejected Washington's offer, claiming that Israel had its own superb weapons. But with the "bunker-busters", says a senior Tel Aviv intelligence source, Israel could have knocked out most of Hizballah's rocket-launchers and possibly brought the war to an early close.

Instead, as the war drags into a fifth week, Hizballah is still pounding Israel's northern cities with over 150 rockets a day. Though Israeli intelligence determined early on exactly where most of those rockets were being fired from — launchers hidden in 38 underground bunkers, burrowed 6 yards down on rocky hilltops across southern Lebanon — Halutz's vaunted Israeli-made "air fuel" bombs have failed to destroy them. So last month, a top intelligence source told TIME, Israel put in an urgent request for precision-guided, 5,000 lb "bunker-buster" bombs. The Bush Administration complied, but it will take several weeks for the bombs to be fitted onto Israeli jets; Israel has also requested an urgent delivery of short-range rockets armed with cluster bombs from the U.S., according to the New York Times. But by the time any of this advanced arsenal arrives, a United Nations cease-fire will probably be imposed banning Israeli air strikes. "If we'd had the bunker-busters in the first few days," laments this senior intelligence officer, "We'd be in an entirely different situation today against Hizballah."

Today's 'situation' is not one that agrees with most Israelis. Promised a swift, knock-out punch against Hizballah's Islamic militiamen, Israelis are now being told that in order to neutralize Hizballah — forget about destroying them — they must brace for a bloody ground attack in Lebanon that could cost hundreds of soldiers' lives. Increasingly, Israelis are asking: how could a militia force of only 4,000 fighters withstand a prolonged beating by the mightiest army in the Middle East — and still keep pelting Israeli cities with rockets?

If a U.N.-sponsored cease-fire goes into effect — and diplomats suggested Friday that they were close to a truce deal backed by a 15,000 strong international force — the after-shock of the Lebanon war is expected to shake-up the top echelons of the Israeli military, and it may even threaten Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition government. Israelis overwhelmingly supported Olmert's initial decision to strike hard against Hizballah. But the latest opinion polls by Yediot Ahronot newspaper show a drop in the public's confidence with Olmert, his war cabinet and with the generals.

That confidence nose-dived earlier this week after Olmert and his ministers began quarrelling furiously over the course of the war. A once decisive prime minister was looking dithery. A major ground offensive was twice postponed by Olmert, though there were reports Friday that Olmert had finally decided to go forward with the operation. The Israeli press reported scalding rows between Olmert and his foreign minister — who pressed for a diplomatic solution when Olmert was pondering an all-out attack — and between Olmert and the defense minister and his army generals, who wanted to land a major blow against Hizballah on Thursday when the prime minister was stricken with doubts over such a risky move. At the same time Halutz sidelined his northern commander, responsible for the day-to-day running of the ground war. Ma'ariv newspaper columnist Ben Caspit fumed: " This campaign was conducted negligently, hesitantly, indecisively. When we needed to attack, we waited. When we should have waited, we attacked. "

As Chief of Staff, Haltuz may end up taking most of the blame. A no-nonsense fighter pilot who was the favorite of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — to the extent that some insiders say Sharon was grooming Halutz, not Olmert, to replace him some day as prime minister — Halutz, 58, at first impressed Israelis with his Top Gun swagger and aviator glasses. Once asked how it felt to drop a bomb on people, he replied: " I feel a light bump to the plane as a result of the bomb's release. A second later and it's gone, and that's all. That is what I feel. "

Waving aside the offer of American-made "bunker-busters" is only one example of Halutz's famous hubris. In a remark that will surely haunt him during the inevitable rash of post-war inquiries, Halutz said on July 14th, "In this day and age, with all the technology we have, there is no reason to start sending ground troops in." A month later, he was ready to order in thousands of troops as the only way to defeat Hizballlah. Granted, Haltuz made the comment after his air force managed to destroy most of Hizballah's arsenal of long-range missiles, capable of reaching Tel Aviv, in the opening salvos of the conflict. Back then, it seemed only a matter of days, or hours, before an Israeli smart-bomb would find its way to the lair of Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah. That possibility now seems a longshot.

With tanks revving their engines and over 20,000 troops already inside Lebanon, Olmert has had good reason to be cautious about an expanded ground invasion. As of Friday, the war has cost 124 Israeli lives, 84 of them soldiers. The 1982 Lebanon war bogged Israeli forces down in Lebanon for 18 years and was a disaster. Olmert was told that a major thrust 14 miles north to the Litani river and beyond, as envisioned by Halutz and the other generals, could drag on for another six weeks and leave hundreds of Israeli soldiers dead. Worst of all, the generals told Olmert that they could only guarantee taking out "70%" of Hizballah's rocket capacity. A cease-fire suddenly started looking good. On Thursday Olmert had decided to wait several days for a U.N. resolution, despite his generals' urgings to roll the tanks, but a day later he seemed to have changed his mind once again.

Once the cease-fire starts, both sides will surely claim victory. Nasrallah will declare himself a new champion of the Arab world for having survived the Israeli onslaught and terrorized 1.5 million Israelis with his blindly flung rockets. (In Palestine's West Bank, recordings of his speeches and ballads of Hizballah warriors are hot sellers.) The Israelis can argue they pushed back Hizballah from the border, killed hundreds of their fighters and replaced enemy militiamen along the border with regular Lebanese army troops and tough international forces. Israel may even be able to exchange its own Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners for two captive Israeli soldiers.( A third soldier was kidnapped by Palestinians militants Hamas, and a senior Hamas official told TIME that his release will depend on what Hizballah decides to do with its two Israeli hostages.) But many Israelis are worried that if they stop fighting now, they will have lost a weapon far more valuable than any "bunker-buster" — the Israeli army's aura of invincibility. And for that loss in this Lebanese war, more than any other casualty, Olmert and his top generals may pay dearly. - With reporting by Jamil Hamad/Nablus and Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1225882,00.html?cnn=yes

[DeltaWhisky58]

Fresh Israel raids after UN vote

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41425000/jpg/_41425869_sidon203.jpg
The strike on Sidon reportedly cut off power to the port city

Israel's military says it has begun "broadening" a ground offensive in Lebanon - hours after the UN Security Council voted for a ceasefire plan.

Israeli troops are moving towards the strategically significant Litani River, a spokeswoman said. Fresh air strikes inside Lebanon left several dead.
The UN passed a resolution urging a "full cessation of hostilities".
Israel's cabinet is to discuss the issue on Sunday and will only halt military action after it takes a vote.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is asking the cabinet to endorse the resolution, describing it as positive and acceptable.
But even as diplomats finalised the draft, Israel radio said troops had been ordered to seize ground as far as the Litani River, up to 30km (18 miles) from the Israeli border.
"We are expanding the combat areas to the Litani River and to areas from which (Hezbollah) rockets are fired on Israel in order to reduce and eventually stop these attacks," a senior commander in northern Israel, General Alon Friedman, was quoted as telling public radio.
Early on Saturday Hezbollah also fired a salvo of 20 rockets at Israel, AFP reported.

Big push?

Long columns of tanks and troops crossed the border under cover of darkness, reports from northern Israel said.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41419000/jpg/_41419931_un_ap203body.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif This inability to act sooner has badly shaken the world's faith in this authority and its integrity http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Kofi Annan

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

Text of resolution (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4785963.stm)
The shadow of Iraq (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4780847.stm)
Mid East crisis: Key maps (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/5177932.stm)


According to Lebanese security sources, at least five people were killed in Israeli air strikes in a village near Tyre.
Israeli jets also raided the city of Sidon - north of the Litani River - destroying facilities at a power station. It is only the second time Sidon has been hit in the conflict, which began more than four weeks ago.
However, Israeli officials gave no details as to the scale of the offensive and it is not clear whether this is the big push into Lebanon that Israel has been threatening.
The BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says there are some indications this could be sabre-rattling before Sunday's cabinet meeting.

Hezbollah factor

An adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora gave the resolution a cautious welcome, but there was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif If the implementation takes place accurately and the Israelis stick to the resolution... I think Hezbollah will also accept it http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Eli Farzli
Lebanese Information Minister

Lebanese Information Minister Eli Farzli told the BBC Hezbollah would abide by the terms set out at the UN.
"If the implementation of the resolution takes place accurately, and the Israelis stick to the resolution, and if the Lebanese government accept it, then I think it means that Hezbollah will also accept it, and I think that Hezbollah will stick to the 1701 resolution," he said.
The Lebanese cabinet is also due to discuss the issue this weekend.
UN Security Council resolution 1701 was passed unanimously in New York after an impassioned speech from Secretary General Kofi Annan.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41425000/jpg/_41425873_shelter203.jpg
Hezbollah rockets are still forcing Israelis into shelters underground


He lamented the UN's failure to act sooner to end fighting in the Middle East.
He also said the widely perceived delay in drafting a resolution had "badly shaken" global faith in the UN.
The new resolution says Hezbollah must end attacks on Israel while Israel must end "offensive military operations" in Lebanese territory.
Other key points include:

Some 15,000 peacekeeping troops for the existing UN Interim Force in Lebanon, Unifil, which will receive a beefed-up mandate to monitor and enforce the ceasefire
Lebanon's government asked to deploy troops to the south of the country, previously the domain of Hezbollah fighters
Israel required to withdraw troops currently in southern Lebanon as UN and Lebanese forces are deployed
Drawing up of plans for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the final settlement of the Israel-Lebanon border area, including the Shebaa farms area claimed by Hezbollah.The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said the deal should "open a path to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel".
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the resolution, but stressed that fighting should stop immediately following its adoption. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called the adoption of the resolution "a historic turning point". But the foreign minister of Qatar, which currently sits on the Security Council, said the resolution still contained imbalances in favour of Israel.

BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4786041.stm)

[Snoshi]

Israel Defense Forces troops were engaged in heavy exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

After the unanimous United Nations Security Council vote on Friday night, Israel launched an expanded ground offensive in the south of Lebanon, despite Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's support of the resolution.

With the expansion of the ground offensive in Lebanon, four military divisions are operating between the different sectors in an effort to reach the Litani River. Sources in the IDF General Staff said 4-7 days would be needed to complete the occupation of the area, though it unclear whether the operation will be completed, as the cabinet will convene Sunday on the UN cease-fire resolution.

Advertisement

An IDF soldier was killed in clashes with Hezbollah in the village Rashef on Friday and another sustained moderate wounds. Also Friday, an IDF soldier was lightly-to-moderately wounded after an anti-tank missile hit an IDF convoy near the village of Rajamin on Friday. A number of other soldiers were lightly wounded.

According to the IDF, at least ten Hezbollah fighters were killed overnight.

Lebanese security sources in Tyre said IDF troops had pushed to a village 11 kilometers inside Lebanon, their furthest penetration yet.

Israel Air Force strikes killed up to 19 people on Saturday. Relief officials said Israel was still denying access for aid convoys to distressed civilians despite the resolution.

Early Saturday morning, IAF jets struck several targets in north, east and south Lebanon, killing at least two people and wounding several others.

An air raid that targeted a vehicle killed two people and wounded a third in the village of Kharayeb in the Zahrani region - about halfway between Beirut and Lebanon's border with Israel, security officials said.

A separate raid destroyed a bridge linking the southern cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh with Sidon.

The officials said the IAF also fired at least three missiles that caused a fire and destroyed power transformers on the eastern edge of Sidon. No casualties were reported.

George Makhoul, an official at the power station, said the air strike cut off electricity in Sidon, which could take up to 10 days to repair.

Security officials reported several air strikes in Akkar province, located about 97 kilometers (60 miles) north of Beirut, and raids on targets in the southern port city of Tyre.

There was no immediate word of casualties.

IAF warplanes also struck apartment buildings that house a Hezbollah charity organization in the heart of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, wounding three people. Another four people were injured in an airstrike on a house west of Baalbek.

On Friday night, an IAF drone fired missiles into a convoy of refugees fleeing attacks in the southern town of Marjayoun, killing at least seven people and wounding 22 others, an Associated Press photographer traveling with the convoy said.

The IDF confirmed it had carried out an air strike on the convoy, saying it had acted on the mistaken suspicion Hezbollah guerrillas were smuggling weapons in the vehicles.

"The attack was carried out based on a suspicion. It was found to be incorrect," an IDF spokeswoman said. The IDF said the convoy had been denied a request for permission to move but that it had set out anyway.

The convoy, consisting of more than 100 civilian vehicles and those carrying a detachment of 350 Lebanese soldiers and police from the area around Marjayoun, was hit near Chtaura on the west side of the Bekaa Valley.

Later Friday, IAF aircraft bombed two electricity transformers in south Lebanon, plunging the port city of Tyre into darkness, security sources said.

Two armored UN peacekeeping vehicles had led the convoy out of Marjayoun on Friday afternoon, but it was not known if they were still accompanying it when the attack occurred.

Al-Jazeera television reported that the Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said 3 people were killed and 7 wounded.

Marjayoun was taken by IDF soldiers early Thursday and intense bombing and artillery fire has been reported in the region for the past 24 hours.

Security officials in the Bekaa said at least nine rockets were fired on the convoy. Hospital officials in the town of Job Jannine said they had received 25 casualties from the attack, although it was not immediately clear how many were fatalities.

Daher said there was a second attack on Red Cross and civil defense vehicles rushing the aid of the stricken convoy. It was not known, he said, if any rescuers were hurt.

On Friday, IAF jets simultaneously attacked targets in a southern Beirut suburb and two border crossings in north and east Lebanon, killing at least 12 people and wounding 18 others, hospital and security officials said.

The casualties were at the Abboudiyeh border crossing into Syria where IAF jets struck twice at a busy bridge, said the security officials.

Abboudiyeh, which is located in the mountainous Akkar province about 120 kilometers northeast of Beirut, effectively is closed after Friday's attacks for hundreds of foreigners and displaced Lebanese who want to flee the war in southern Lebanon, the security officials said.

Only one other official border crossing, at the coastal town of Arida, is operating between the two neighboring countries.

IAF jets also struck three vehicles near the eastern city of Baalbek Friday morning, killing at least one person and wounding two others, security officials said. Witnesses said the vehicles were directly hit and caught fire. It was unclear whether they were cars or pickup trucks - a frequent target of Israeli raids.

An AP reporter in the southern port city of Tyre heard a huge sonic boom over the town early Friday, likely from Israeli jet fighters breaking the sound barrier overhead.

Israel also struck an area close to the Lebanese border crossing at Masnaa in the Bekaa Valley, about 50 kilometers southeast of Beirut, but there were no reports of casualties. This main border crossing with Syria has been bombed four other times in the month-old war between Hezbollah and Israel and is closed to vehicle traffic.

They said IAF planes struck the area of Balenat al-Hissa, near Lebanon's northern border with Syria.

At daybreak Friday IAF aircraft renewed attacks on Beirut's southern Dahiyeh suburb.

Eight powerful explosions were heard in central Beirut within a span of 20 minutes, but the exact target of the attacks were not known.

The Voice of Lebanon said several fires erupted and thick smoke rose from the area.

There were not immediate reports of damage or casualties.

VOL and LBC TV said a bridge was also attacked by the Israeli jets at Heitsa in the Akkar province in north of Lebanon. Both stations said initial reports from the area indicated there were casualties.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749479.html

[SeanAshi]

Mr Olmert received an unambiguous warning today that accepting a UN-brokered ceasefire before achieving a clear-cut military victory over the Shia Muslim movement would amount to a humiliating defeat for Israel that could force him from office.

After enjoying four weeks of unwavering public support, Mr Olmert and his Government woke up to an unprecedented barrage of criticism today for its handling of the war. A headline in the Haaretz newspaper declared:
"Olmert must go!".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2308742_2,00.html

[DeltaWhisky58]

Mr Olmert received an unambiguous warning today that accepting a UN-brokered ceasefire before achieving a clear-cut military victory over the Shia Muslim movement would amount to a humiliating defeat for Israel that could force him from office.

After enjoying four weeks of unwavering public support, Mr Olmert and his Government woke up to an unprecedented barrage of criticism today for its handling of the war. A headline in the Haaretz newspaper declared:
"Olmert must go!".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2308742_2,00.html


Do not quote just a selected part of a news report to get your point accross - this is a news-only thread, quote the entire news article or not at all!

[DeltaWhisky58]

First hints of Israeli dissent

By Bethany Bell
BBC News, Jerusalem
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/999999.gif


Over the past few weeks, support among Israelis for the military campaign against Hezbollah has remained high, but for the first time this may be changing.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41424000/jpg/_41424563_injured_ap_203body.jpg
One peace campaigner said the war had spiralled out of control


A recent poll published in the mass circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper suggests that 75% of Israelis think the decision to go to war was right.
Despite the rising number of casualties and the disruption to life in northern Israel, where scores of Hezbollah rockets land every day, many people here say the fight must go on.
Many Israelis feel they have no choice but to strike hard at Hezbollah. They believe that at stake is the very survival of the state of Israel.
But there are signs that cracks are beginning to appear in the consensus.
The Yedioth Aronoth poll says 64% of Israelis (71% of Jewish respondents) support sending troops deeper into Lebanon, up to the Litani River.
But another poll in the more leftwing Haaretz newspaper suggests that only 39% of Israelis are in favour of an expanded ground offensive.
The Haaretz poll, of 570 Israelis, also suggests that support for the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is slipping.

Protests

The paper says the rising number of Israeli casualties and the continued Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel may be to blame for the drop in popularity.
Up to now, protests against the war have been mainly confined to the radical left and Israeli Arab groups.
The campaign group Peace Now, which was at the forefront of opposition to the previous war in Lebanon, did not condemn the current military offensive.
But more than four weeks into the conflict, that changed. The group held its first demonstration against the war, along with politicians from the opposition Meretz party.
The protest, in Tel Aviv, was a small one. Some of the demonstrators wore blue and white, the colours of the Israeli flag, to show their loyalty to the state. But their message was clear.
"The war has spiralled out of control and the government is ignoring the political options available," said Yariv Oppenheimer, general director of Peace Now.
Writing in The Jerusalem Post, the Meretz Knesset member Ran Cohen called the move to expand the ground offensive "a wretched decision".
"The government has fallen into the trap that [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah has laid for it... We are ploughing back into the Lebanese quagmire," he said.

'Cabinet splits'

Public sentiment has mostly called for more aggressive action, not less - one likely factor in the government's decision to escalate military operations.
But some doubts have been growing as to whether Hezbollah can be destroyed and there are reports of splits in the Israeli cabinet about how to manage the crisis.
The Haaretz newspaper suggests that despite the fact that a majority of ministers voted for an expanded ground offensive, some would prefer a political rather than a military solution.
One article suggests that Mr Olmert is not pleased with the army's performance and is convinced that the war must be stopped.
Other papers report on a growing frustration in the army that the broader campaign has been put on hold.
A majority of Israelis still support the military offensive but a sense of weariness has set in. "People were more enthusiastic about this conflict at the beginning," one man from Tel Aviv told me. "But now everyone just wants things to quieten down. We want things to return to normal."

BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4784801.stm)

[DeltaWhisky58]

Israeli Arabs caught in middle

By Martin Patience
BBC News, Jerusalem
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/999999.gif

About 700,000 Israeli Arabs live in the north of Israel, putting them in the firing line of rockets fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah.

Awatef Sheikh, 30, a consultant, lives in the Galilee village of Ibillin.
When the sirens go off, she grabs her nieces and nephews and ushers them into her parents' home.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41416000/jpg/_41416333_shopap203story.jpg
Arab-Israelis say they are caught in no man's land

But while Ms Sheikh says that the children are traumatised by the Hezbollah rocket attacks, she insists that Israel - and not Hezbollah - is responsible for the current conflict.
"The Arabs die in villages because of Israeli aggression against Lebanon. Hezbollah is firing these rockets to defend its people," says Ms Sheikh, an Israeli Arab, speaking on the phone from her village in northern Israel.
The current conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants is sharpening the divide between Israelis and their Israeli Arab fellow citizens.
While opinion polls show that the Israeli public overwhelming supports continued military action in Lebanon, many of the Jewish state's approximately one million-strong Israeli Arab community blame Israel for the violence.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif The division between us and the Lebanese is artificial - they are Arabs, they look like us, laugh like us, and eat the same food http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Dr Azmi Bishara
Israeli Arab politician

"We're caught in the middle," says Ms Sheikh. "We are on the wrong side of the battle."
Representing about a fifth of Israel's population, most of this community are descendants of Palestinian families who remained in their towns and villages after the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Legally considered to be full Israeli citizens, many Israeli Arabs say they face discrimination in all walks of life - education, health and the workplace.
In the current conflict, more than a third of the civilian casualties on the Israeli side of the border have been Arab - of the 39 civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets, 15 have been Israeli Arabs.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41416000/jpg/_41416331_funeralap203.jpg
Arab-Israelis have been among the victims of Hezbollah strikes

Even while suffering a disproportionately high number of casualties in Hezbollah rocket attacks, Dr Azmi Bishara, an Israeli Arab Knesset member and leader of the Balad political party, says that most Israeli Arabs empathise with the Lebanese.
"The division between us and the Lebanese is artificial," he says. "They are Arabs, they look like us, laugh like us, and eat the same food."
Some Israelis are angered by what they see as Israeli Arab sympathy with their enemy.
"Despite the developments that threaten their very homes, they (Israeli Arabs) are still capable of expressing solidarity with the Lebanese and attacking Israel's policy," wrote Dganit Kenig in the mass market Maariv Israeli daily newspaper.

'Human shields' claim

Dr Bishara says the current "nationalistic" climate in Israel means that it is impossible to oppose the war without being denounced as a "fifth columnist".
He has accused the Israeli government of providing no bomb shelters for the Arab population and using them as "human shields" by placing artillery units beside Israeli Arab villages in the north.
At the Knesset, there have been ugly scenes between Jewish and Israeli Arab politicians. They were reports in the Israeli media that one of the Israeli Arab representatives received death threats.
"The Arabs in Israel are excluded from politics right now," says Dr Bishara.
"They just sit and watch the television."
Like many Israeli Arabs, Dr Bishara believes that there will be repercussions for the community when the war ends. "We will have to pick up the bill on this," he says. "If they lose they will turn against us, if they win they will turn against us." For Ms Sheikh, the war has made it clear "that there is no illusion of co-existence any more."

BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4778163.stm)

[DeltaWhisky58]

Herewith a summary of curent news stories available from BBC News Online - International pages. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/) (DW58)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41902000/gif/_41902106_middle_east2_hyp203.gif (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/default.stm)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif

LATEST NEWS

Fresh Israel raids after UN vote (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4786041.stm)
Blair urges 'immediate ceasefire' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4785959.stm)
UN rights body backs Israel probe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4783511.stm)
In pictures: Tensions grow (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4783889.stm)
Day-by-day: Lebanon crisis (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4776627.stm)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/cccccc.gif

DESPATCHES

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41420000/jpg/_41420969_ap_mantyre6666.jpg (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4781551.stm) http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif
No-drive zone (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4781551.stm)
Residents walk in fear as Israeli vehicle threat empties streets
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4781551.stm)
Hints of Israel dissent (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4784801.stm)
Caught in middle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4778163.stm)
Syria's welcome to Lebanese (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4778131.stm)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/cccccc.gif

ANALYSIS

Israel fights under Iraq shadow (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4780847.stm)
Pro-Israel pressure strong in US (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5258240.stm)
Conflict one month on (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4777337.stm)
Q&A: Israeli offensive (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4778035.stm)
France plays key role (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5257602.stm)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/cccccc.gif

BACKGROUND

Ceasefire: Next steps (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4786385.stm)
Text: UN Lebanon resolution (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4785963.stm)
Who stands where? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5253146.stm)
Lebanon's seven-point proposal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5256936.stm)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/cccccc.gif

VOICES

Israeli answers your questions (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/5255496.stm)
Diary: Getting aid in (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4783047.stm)

[Darth Vidar]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3290072,00.html

IDF dispatches large forces in airlift to Lebanon.
It was cleared for publication that the Israeli Air Force dispatched large forces in airlift deep into south Lebanese territory on Friday night, in the framework of expanding the military offensive in the area.

IDF sources describe the operation as the largest carried out by the army in recent years. (Hanan Greenberg)

[Darth Vidar]

More on the airlift-operation:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525845652&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Firefight raging south of Marjayoun
By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST STAFF AND AP (editors@jpost.com)

Violent clashes continued in southern Lebanon on Saturday between IDF troops and Hizbullah gunmen.
Commandos were engaged in fierce battles with Hizbullah guerrillas in an area southwest of Marjayoun Saturday, Lebanese security officials said.
The commando unit landed at dawn in El-Ghandourieh in a valley between the towns of Nabatiyeh, Tyre and Taibeh, the officials said. Heavy clashes raged there all morning, they said.

It was unclear whether the commandos landed by helicopter or traveled by land from areas farther east. El-Ghandourieh is about 12 kilometers from the Israeli border. The area overlooks the Litani River, and is strategic ground that separates the eastern sector from the central sector of south Lebanon.

Lebanon's National News Agency said fierce clashes were under way between guerrillas and IDF commandos on the edge of El-Ghandourieh, while the village and surrounding areas were being pounded by IAF missile strikes. El-Ghandourieh is about 15 kilometers west of the Christian town of Marjayoun, which Israeli troops took on Thursday........................

[Snoshi]

Israel nearly triples troops in Lebanon

By ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press Writer


AP Photo/DAVID GUTTENFELDER
AP VIDEO



BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Israel staged wide-ranging airstrikes and sent commandos into the Hezbollah heartland Saturday as the U.N. raced to begin enforcing its new cease-fire blueprint and stop combat. Airstrikes killed at least 19 people in Lebanon, including 15 in one village, while Hezbollah rockets wounded at least five people in Israel.

Israel also blasted a highway near Lebanon's last open border crossing to Syria as it kept up its full-scale campaign against Hezbollah militants. Long columns of Israeli tanks, troops and armored personnel carriers streamed over the border.

The U.N. plan approved Friday night would create a peacekeeping force by combining a beefed-up version of the ineffective U.N. units already in the war zone and 15,000 soldiers from the Lebanese army. The force, which could number around 30,000, would stand between Israel and the Hezbollah militia.

Israel's Cabinet meets Sunday to approve the U.N. plan. Lebanese officials signaled that their formal backing could come Saturday.



Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, said Israel has nearly tripled the number of troops in Lebanon and expects to fight for another week despite the cease-fire deal. He said Israeli forces - apparently about 30,000 soldiers now - would stay in Lebanon until an international force arrives.

Israel has demanded an airtight buffer zone and wonders if U.N. and Lebanese forces are up for the task. A small U.N. military presence - now about 2,000 observers - has been in Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon since 1978 and has been overwhelmed by the Islamic militant group's rising power, aided by Iran and Syria.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice specifically cited Hezbollah's two sponsors in a statement Friday for all parties to "respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community."

But the resolution, approved 15-0 in the U.N. Security Council, did nothing to immediately halt the fighting that erupted exactly a month ago and has claimed nearly 900 lives - including at least 761 in Lebanon and 123 Israelis.



Israeli missiles slammed into the southern Lebanon village of Rachaf, about 10 miles from the Israeli border, killing at least 15 civilians, security officials said. Israeli ground forces also fanned out across southern Lebanon hunting for Hezbollah rocket batteries that have fired unending salvos across the border.

Three people also were killed in strikes on Kharayeb, and a Lebanese soldier was killed in an air raid near an army base in the Bekaa Valley, officials said.

In Sidon, a coastal city between Beirut and the Israeli border, Israeli bombs destroyed a power plant. Farther south, another power facility was hit near Tyre, knocking out electricity to the port, police said.

On Lebanon's northern frontier, Israeli airstrikes hit the highway leading to the Arida border crossing about a mile from the Mediterranean coast. It's the last official border post open for humanitarian convoys and civilians fleeing the country. The highway was impassable, but drivers tried to maneuver through ruts and ditches.

The only other exits from Lebanon are rugged pathways and back roads through deserts or mountains.

Israel seeks to block supply routes for Hezbollah and disrupt their mobility and has warned it would target any vehicles on the roads in southern Lebanon and along other main highways.

Any movement - even under the umbrella of U.N. forces - can prove deadly.

On Friday, an Israeli aircraft fired on a convoy of more than 600 civilian vehicles and others carrying 350 Lebanese police and soldiers who left the Israeli-occupied town on Marjayoun in southeast Lebanon. Police said three civilians and an army recruit were killed and 28 people were injured. The mayor of Marjayoun, Fuad Hamra, placed the death toll at six.

Israel said the U.N. troops asked permission to lead the convoy, but it was denied. Previous groups were given permission and traveled unharmed, the Israeli military said.

Fighting continued in Hezbollah-held areas around Marjayoun, a strategic hub overlooking valleys used as Hezbollah rocket bases.

Israeli commando units and guerrillas engaged in close combat in a valley near El-Ghandourieh, about 10 miles southwest of Marjayoun, according to Lebanese security officials.

Other Israeli ground forces, backed by aircraft and drones, met stiff resistance as they tried to reach the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border.

Israel said its troops destroyed several rocket batteries and killed more than 40 Hezbollah fighters in the last 24 hours. The guerrilla group announced four deaths Friday and none Saturday.

After a morning free of Hezbollah rocket strikes in northern Israel, a barrage of 20 missiles at midafternoon injured two people in Amirim and three in Kiryat Shemona. Hezbollah had been averaging nearly 200 hits each day in the monthlong conflict.

The Litani is seen by Israel as a crucial boundary in its attempt to push back Hezbollah. Israel repeatedly has insisted that the proposed peacekeeping force cannot allow Hezbollah weapons south of the river.

But it will be nearly impossible to rid south Lebanon of the Islamic guerrillas, who are now in the Lebanese Cabinet and run clinics and other charities that are considered essential in rebuilding the region. Their ability to withstand the Israeli military assault has also made Hezbollah heroes across the Arab and Islamic worlds.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about