³We will continue pursuing [Hezbollah leaders]... and we do
not intend to ask anyone's permission.²
Ehud Olmert
Very interesting. This gives a very special meaning to the term 'cease fire'.
While the UN protects Israel from retaliation, Israel will continue air strikes
in Lebanon. Thus, once again, the UN plays a supporting role in imperialism and
aggression.
rkm
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Original source URL:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4791125.stm
Israel warns foes despite truce
Israel will pursue Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon despite the ceasefire ending the
month-long conflict, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told parliament.
During a stormy session, he defended his conduct of the war saying Hezbollah had
been crippled. However the group's leader denied this and claimed victory.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the ceasefire, which came into force early
on Monday, seemed to be holding.
Thousands of people are returning to southern Lebanon following the truce.
Fighting ended at 0500 GMT, although Israel said it had killed at least four
Hezbollah fighters in later clashes.
Israeli officials told the AFP news agency that in each case soldiers had opened
fire "when armed men tried to approach" and had not broken the terms of the UN
ceasefire.
Up to 10 rockets were also fired southwards on Monday night and early Tuesday
morning but did not cross the Israeli border, the Israeli army said.
No-one was injured and Israel planned no response, military sources added.
Heckled
In his speech to parliament, Mr Olmert said Hezbollah's "state within a state"
and "terror organisation" in southern Lebanon had been destroyed.
However he added that the group's leaders would "not be left alone".
"We will continue pursuing them anywhere, all the time and we do not intend to
apologise or ask anyone's permission," he added.
Mr Olmert - who was heckled by some MPs - admitted Israel had made mistakes but
took full responsibility for the war.
He advised patience for his critics, who believe the war did not achieve
Israel's original goal of dismantling Hezbollah.
Patience
The prime minister also said his government would work "with all the means at
our disposal" to secure the release of the two soldiers whose capture by
Hezbollah sparked the conflict on 12 July.
Lebanese and Israeli military commanders are discussing their fate, an Israeli
political source told the BBC.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, for his part, said his side had
achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.
He also promised during a videotaped speech on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV that the
group would help Lebanese victims rebuild their homes.
Later on Monday, US President George W Bush blamed Hezbollah and its "state
sponsors, Iran and Syria" for the bloodshed in Lebanon.
He said the war had been "part of a broader struggle between freedom and
terror".
Mr Bush also vowed to continue to promote democracy in the Middle East. "The
freedom agenda will defeat terror," he said.
Shattered
Mr Annan said the truce appeared to be holding and urged both sides to "continue
to consolidate the cessation".
Israel has said its troops will remain in Lebanon until an international
peacekeeping force can take control, and that its forces would return fire if
attacked.
Roads leading from Beirut and Sidon were jammed with the cars of people
returning to inspect their properties and homes.
The BBC's Jim Muir in the town of Bint Jbeil, the site of some of the fiercest
fighting, described a scene of devastation with few signs of life.
The body of a woman wrapped in plastic had been left in a shattered building for
two weeks, our correspondent added.
The only local residents he found were one man and his disabled wife who had
been sheltering in the hospital.
Sweden is to host an international aid conference to raise funds for Lebanon.
About 60 governments have been invited to attend the 31 August meeting in
Stockholm.
Some 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, 114 of them soldiers,
have died in the 34-day conflict.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4791125.stm
Published: 2006/08/15 00:27:36 GMT
© BBC MMVI
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