Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

Israel's military is pressing on with an expanded ground offensive in south Lebanon, despite the UN Security Council vote for a ceasefire plan.
Israel has tripled its number of troops there, the army chief said. They are moving towards the strategically significant Litani River.

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. ...

...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.

The UN special envoy to the Middle East, Alvaro de Soto, said he expected Israel to wind down its operations in the next couple of days.

No timetable has been agreed for a ceasefire yet.

UN Security Council resolution 1701 was passed unanimously in New York after an impassioned speech from Secretary General Kofi Annan.

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 breakthrough in New York came as France and the United States overcame differences on a resolution that envisages a swift deployment of Lebanese army troops to the south and the beefing up of the UN force already there, called UNIFIL, with troops from Western nations.

Israel, which would be expected to begin withdrawing its troops "in parallel" with the new deployments and "at the earliest opportunity ", had earlier voiced dissatisfaction with the text on the grounds that it conferred insufficient authority on UNIFIL militarily to enforce the ceasefire on Hizbollah. But the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told President George Bush in a phone call last night, minutes before the vote, that he would recommend accepting the text to his cabinet tomorrow. US officials said the Lebanese government was also ready to respect the resolution.

It had become clear that the principle Security Council members, including Britain, were no longer willing to delay a vote. "We are going to vote today, come what may," the British envoy, Emyr Jones Parry, asserted in the afternoon.

Several foreign ministers were on hand to raise their hands in the Security Council, including Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, Britain's Margaret Beckett and France's Philippe Douste-Blazy.

Attention will inevitably now switch to the ground in Lebanon. It remained to be seen how far the ceasefire resolution would be observed, bringing an end to a month of blood-letting in Lebanon. Or if a truce did emerge, how long it would hold. ...

There is no explicit provision on the disarming of Hizbollah, raising fears it may break the ceasefire. "Our hope is that we've created enough of a process, and enough security will be established, that Hizbollah will neither want nor be able to do that," said Mr Jones Parry. [The British envoy] "But the first few days are going to be very challenging. Because if they do attack, it opens up a whole can of worms." ...

...The text accepts Lebanon's offer to send 15,000soldiers to the area while suggesting that UNIFIL would be expanded "to a maximum of 15,000 troops" operating under a reinforced mandate to "monitor the cessation of hostilities". Those troops are expected to be provided by countries including France, Spain, Germany and Australia. In time there could be 30,000 troops in the south. Diplomats are hoping that the introduction of such a large number of troops will answer Israel's fear regarding the creation of a security vacuum on its border that it would leave Hizbollah soldiers the opportunity to spill back in.

Israel had been hoping that UNIFIL's mandate would be boosted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter which would have explicitly authorised it to engage Hizbollah fighters. The idea was dropped, however, after it drew strong objections from Lebanon on the grounds that it would have converted UNIFIL almost into colonising force.

Lebanon and other Arab nations had also pushed negotiators to balance the terms of the ceasefire to ensure Israel and Hizbollah were under matching constraints. In the end, the text called for "the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive operations". This appears to leave it to Israel to define which of its operations are offensive.

Israel ignores looming ceasefire

JERUSALEM -- Long columns of Israeli tanks, troops and armoured personnel carriers streamed over the Lebanese border early today as Israel pressed ahead with its military offensive, hoping to inflict as much damage as possible on Hezbollah before a proposed ceasefire deal comes into effect.

Israeli officials said the military would push forward with the expanded offensive, ordered yesterday by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, despite a UN Security Council resolution that calls for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The campaign will continue at least until tomorrow when Olmert will bring the resolution to his government for discussion, said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, adding Olmert intends to urge the cabinet to approve it.

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

Officials said the continuing military operation is intended to further weaken Hezbollah and make it easier for the UN and Lebanese troops to take over.

"The logic would be that even in the framework of this successful outcome, if you hand over to the Lebanese army a cleaner south Lebanon, a South Lebanon where you have Hezbollah removed from the territory, that makes their (the Lebanese) troubles a lot easier," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mark Regev.

Only six hours passed from Olmert's initial decision to broaden the ground offensive to his endorsement of the ceasefire deal. The zig-zag signalled Israel's dilemma after a month of inconclusive fighting.

Israel has been unable to defeat Hezbollah and is concerned about growing Israeli casualties, as well as international condemnation, if the war continues. However, Olmert also fears accepting a deal that does not rein in the guerrillas could lead to another war down the road and hurt him politically.

Israel still at war despite UN vote

Israeli forces thrust deeper into Lebanon against fierce Hizbollah resistance, hours after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to end the month-old war.

Meanwhile continuing air strikes killed up to 20 people, and relief officials said Israel was still denying permission for aid convoys to reach distressed civilians in the south.

Israeli troops pushed west to Ghandouriyeh, a village 11 km inside Lebanon, their furthest penetration yet, security sources said. Hizbollah said it ambushed them there.

Its statement was a tacit acknowledgement that the Israelis had forced their way through Hizbollah resistance at the village of Qantara, east of Ghandouriyeh. The guerrilla group said it had destroyed seven tanks. The Israeli army said one was hit. ...

...The UN resolution called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" and authorised up to 15,000 UN troops to move in to enforce a ceasefire. It said Hizbollah must halt all attacks and Israel must stop "all offensive military operations".

Lebanon accepted the resolution and officials said the cabinet, which contains two Hizbollah loyalists, would confirm this at a meeting later in the day. The Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla group has made no comment on the UN vote.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told US President George W Bush he supported it and "thanked him for his assistance in keeping Israeli interests in mind at the Security Council".

Olmert will urge his cabinet to approve the resolution, but an Israeli official said the army would not stop its Lebanon offensive before that cabinet session.

Hours before the UN vote, Israeli aircraft fired rockets at a convoy of hundreds of civilian cars fleeing the south, killing at least seven people and wounding 36, the Lebanese Red Cross said. Israel said the attack was a mistake.

At least 1,061 people in Lebanon and 124 Israelis have been killed in the war that began after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said the UN resolution "vindicates Israel all the way through and says that Hizbollah was the aggressor and that they need to return the abducted soldiers ... We achieved all we could from the UN."

The cabinet began Thursday its marketing plan to the Security Council to secure the end of the war and play up Israel's successes. Then the obligatory crisis erupted: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert barred Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni from attending the United Nations Security Council sessions.

Livni has been planning the trip for several days. She planned to address the council,speak to colleagues and meet the Jewish community. But Olmert said "No." His reasons were that Livni asked for his approval too late, that there was no point going after the resolution was drafted, and that Foreign Ministry professionals objected. But that was just the cover. Olmert brought his lingering animosity to Livni out into the open.

A short time after the fighting erupted, Olmert pushed Livni out of his close circle.

When he read she was displaying "independence," he sent Shimon Peres for diplomatic talks overseas. Thursday, one of his aides said: "Livni has been telling journalists for three days that she's going to the UN, but remembered to get Olmert's approval an hour and a half before taking off."

Livni objected to continuing with the military operation, which, she believes, had consummated itself in the first two days. She voted against bombarding Hezbollah headquarters in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut for fear of escalation. Since then, she has supported the decisions, but kept a low profile. She did not run from one television studio to another to justify the war and muster support for ground operations. She sought a diplomatic solution.

She suggested starting a political process at the same time as the military one, and sending an international force to South Lebanon. Olmert was not keen at first, but ultimately clutched at her suggestions like a life belt to get out of the military entanglement.

At the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Livni made it clear to the IDF chiefs, who proposed an operation that would take a month or two, that if a political way out was found in a day or two, they would have to stop in their tracks.

"Have you completed the operation we approved the last time already?" she asked them.

"Not yet," they answered.

On Monday night, after visiting the Northern Command, Olmert was convinced that the war must be stopped. He did not like the operational plans he was shown, and was not thrilled with the army's performance.

For three weeks, he has been hearing daily that tomorrow the IDF will gain control of Bint Jbail and the town is still swarming with lethal Hezbollah fighters. He did not trust the army to stop the rocket fire even in a prolonged operation.

Since then, Olmert has mobilized a coalition to release him from the grand military operation, which, according to IDF estimates, would involve hundreds of fatalities.

Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, the New York Times reported Friday morning. These rockets can be effective against hidden missile launchers.

Israel is asking for the rockets now because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks in the month-old conflict by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery, the officials said.

According to the paper, the request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly, along with other arms.

But the Times reports that some State Department officials "have sought to delay the approval because of concerns over the likelihood of civilian casualties, and the diplomatic repercussions." The rockets, the officials told the Times, are fired by the dozen and could be expected to cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas. ...