UNITED NATIONS, 12 August 2006 — Key UN Security Council members have agreed on a resolution to end Israel’s month-old war with Hezbollah and a vote was possible later yesterday, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said.
But an Israeli government spokeswoman said an expansion of the army’s offensive within Lebanon would go ahead within hours. Israel ordered the expanded offensive earlier yesterday but said it could be put on hold if there was a diplomatic breakthrough.
“The wheels will be turning” already as the army gears up to begin, spokeswoman Miri Regev told CNN.
An Israeli political source said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was reviewing the draft resolution and Israel’s Channel 10 television said the text had been “positively received.”
Earlier in the day, Israel ordered an expansion of its ground offensive and said it would press ahead with the campaign if it was unhappy with any deal. Israeli tank forces were preparing for orders to sweep into Lebanon after the wider offensive was approved, Israeli television reported. “We have an agreed text,” Beckett told reporters, adding she hoped that Israel and Lebanon would abide by it.
A revised US-French Security Council draft resolution authorizes up to 15,000 UN troops to monitor a withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from southern Lebanon and help the Lebanese Army enforce a truce.
The text, obtained by Reuters, calls “full cessation of hostilities” but does not say it is immediate. It asks Israel to pull out its forces from southern Lebanon “at the earliest.” The timing of Israel’s withdrawal and the nature of the international force sent into the area had been the main points of contention that held up a deal this week.
A second resolution on a permanent cease-fire would follow within a month, tackling a range of issues including the release of two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah.
The text is not expected to define when Hezbollah would be disarmed and by whom, as called for in previous resolutions.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said fighters hit an Israeli gunboat off Tyre in southern Lebanon, killing or wounding 12 sailors. Israel denied the report. Footage on Al-Jazeera television showed white smoke pouring out of an object in the waters off Tyre, but it was not clear what was burning.
There was no immediate letup in the violence in Lebanon and Israel. Air raids killed another 19 people in Lebanon. An Israeli soldier was reported killed in fighting and Hezbollah rockets wounded seven people in northern Israel.
Israeli raids on a bridge near the border with Syria killed 12 people and wounded 18, hospital staff said. Witnesses said a second strike hit the bridge 15 minutes after the first had brought rescuers rushing to the scene.
Israeli strikes killed two people in the eastern Bekaa Valley and five in south Lebanon, security sources said.
An Israeli soldier was killed and one was badly wounded in fighting with Hezbollah fighters, Al-Arabiya television reported. The Israeli Army had no immediate comment.
More bombs hit Beirut’s battered suburbs, hours after dawn raids on the capital. Many people fled the suburbs on Thursday after Israel dropped warning leaflets.
Hezbollah, whose capture of two Israeli soldiers sparked the war on July 12, fired more than 55 rockets into Israel, wounding seven people, police and ambulance staff said.
Humanitarian agencies sought ways to get aid to an estimated 100,000 people trapped in southern Lebanon and the mayor of Tyre said the city could run out of food in two days.
Aid convoys have been unable to deliver supplies since an Israeli airstrike hit a bridge on the Litani River on Monday.
