Israel Reportedly Planning To Halt Its Military Campaign Monday
Posted August 12, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Guns may soon fall silent in Lebanon with word that Israel plans to stop its military campaign in the country by Monday.
But fighting continued Saturday – the day after the United Nations Security Council unanimously endorsed a long-awaited ceasefire agreement – as Israel continued to pound Hezbollah strongholds.
The fighting, which has claimed at least 800 lives so far, broke out exactly a month ago Saturday.
The Lebanese government accepted the U.N. agreement Saturday and the Israeli cabinet is expected to vote on it Sunday.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said the U.N. agreement appears to contain “all the elements required for a sustainable peace.”
“It guarantees that Hezbollah will not be able to return to the border area. It will prevent the re-arming of Hezbollah by Iran and Syria, and it, of course, commits the international community to the full disarmament of Hezbollah as a military organization,” he said.
“And for those reasons, I believe the cabinet will approve the decision, and it will be moving forward on this political process.”
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the militant group would abide by the U.N. ceasefire but would continue fighting as long as Israeli troops remained in southern Lebanon.
A senior Israeli official who didn’t want to be identified said Saturday that his country will end all hostilities at 7am Monday (midnight Sunday EDT).
Israeli forces launched missile attacks throughout southern Lebanon Saturday. One killed at least 15 civilians in the village of Rachaf, about 14 kilometres from the Israel border. Ground forces also spread out across the region trying to locate Hezbollah rocket bases.
A power plant in the coastal city of Sidon was destroyed by Israeli bombs, as was a similar facility in Tyre, which knocked out electricity.
Israeli air strikes destroyed a main highway in the northern part of Lebanon leading to a key border crossing, which is the last official crossing open to humanitarian convoys and civilians fleeing the country.
The only other way to get out of Lebanon is to take rugged paths and back roads through desserts or through the mountains.
Israel is trying to block and destroy Hezbollah supply routes and limit the militant group’s mobility. Israel has said it will target any moving vehicle and on Friday it fired on a convoy of more than 600 civilian vehicles and others carrying Lebanese police and soldiers. Four people were killed.
U.N. troops asked for permission to lead the convoy but it was denied.
Israeli ground forces also came under fire Saturday as they approached the Litani River in the southern part of the country. At least 30 Hezbollah fighters were reportedly killed and the Israeli forces apparently also suffered casualties.
