BEIRUT, 22 August 2006 — US President George W. Bush called yesterday for the urgent deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force to southern Lebanon to shore up a week-old truce between Israel and Hezbollah fighters.
He said there would be another UN resolution on the rules for such a force. “First things first will be to get the rules of engagement clear,” he told a news conference in Washington.
Announcing a $230 million aid package to Lebanon that includes 25,000 tons of wheat, Bush called for United Nations forces to “deploy as quickly as possible to keep the peace.”
A UN truce last Monday halted the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, as well as 157 Israelis. However, assembling a UN force to keep the peace is proving difficult.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the situation in Lebanon as “very fragile” and also called for a swift deployment of UN troops to the south.
Italy emerged as the potential leader of such a force following telephone talks between Prime Minister Romano Prodi and his opposite numbers in Beirut and Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, hosting senior UN envoys in Jerusalem, spoke to Prodi late on Sunday and said he would be happy to see the Italians in charge.
Italy’s right-wing opposition warned the deployment could prove a “kamikaze” mission, but the Lebanese Cabinet was expected to welcome Rome’s initiative later yesterday.
A senior Lebanese political source said 2,500 Italian soldiers would join the UN contingent.
Despite Merkel’s call for speed, Germany will not be sending combat troops. Many Germans are sensitive about sending soldiers to the region, 60 years after the Holocaust, because they worry German soldiers might have to shoot at Israelis. France had earlier been expected to lead the force but then dismayed the United Nations by offering only 200 troops to add to those it already has in the existing 2,000-strong UN force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
Since then, the impetus appears to have swung toward Rome, although the Lebanese source said details still had to be worked out with both France and Italy.
As the United Nations tried to cobble a force together, witnesses said Israeli jets swooped low over the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.
The Lebanese Army has deployed along the Syrian border and has moved deep into the shattered south as the Israelis leave. Witnesses saw around 15 Lebanese tanks roll into the southern port of Tyre — the first to arrive since the truce took hold. UNIFIL said the Israeli Army had pulled out of areas around the southern village of Beit Yahoun, and Lebanese soldiers would take their place later in the day. The United Nations has vowed to move 3,500 extra troops to the south by Sept. 2, but has received few firm offers of help.
The Israeli government came under further fire at home for its handling of the war, which failed to destroy Hezbollah. Israeli reservists published a scathing open letter in which they accused government leaders and top army officers of inept handling of the war.
In addition, Israeli Brig. Gen. Yossi Heiman said the military had been “guilty of the sin of arrogance” in its approach to the battle. In a sign that life is gradually returning to normal in Beirut, the Lebanese stock exchange lifted restrictions brought in during the war to limit price volatility. Trade was brisk and the benchmark BLOM Stock Index rose 5.8 percent.
Britain, meanwhile, said yesterday it was investigating reports that British military equipment was being used by Hezbollah in the Middle East. A Foreign Office spokesman said the government was seeking more information on whether night-vision equipment, which media reports said was found by Israeli troops in Hezbollah bunkers in southern Lebanon, could have come from or been made in Britain.
