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Israeli raid in Lebanon tests truce

Israel says the operation aimed to stop arms smuggling from Iran and Syria. Lebanon and the U.N. say it violated the cease-fire.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 20, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - It was the first real test for the 6-day-old U.N.-brokered cease-fire in Lebanon, but it came far from the quieted frontier where Israel's army and Hezbollah's guerrillas warily watch each other.

Swooping down on a hilltop before dawn Saturday, Israeli commandos headed into the Hezbollah stronghold of Boudai, a village near Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa Valley. A fierce gunbattle erupted in the village, about 60 miles from the Israeli border.

Israel said the raid - launched to stop alleged arms smuggling from Iran and Syria to the militant Shiite fighters - left an Israeli officer killed and two Israeli soldiers wounded, one seriously, before the commandos were flown out. Hezbollah said it drove them off; Israel says the commandos succeeded in their mission.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the operation a violation of the U.N. truce, according to a statement from his spokesman.

There were no signs of further clashes, but the flareup underlined worries about the fragility of the cease-fire as the United Nations pleaded for countries to send troops to an international force in southern Lebanon that is to separate Israeli and Hezbollah fighters.

A contingent of 49 French soldiers landed in the south Saturday, providing the first reinforcements for the 2,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL, which has been stationed in the region for years. About 200 more were expected next week.

They were the first additions to what is intended to grow into a 15,000-soldier U.N. force to police the truce with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. France leads UNIFIL and already had 200 soldiers in Lebanon before the reinforcements.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said more countries needed to join the force. The U.N. wants to have 3,500 soldiers on the ground by Aug. 28 to help police the truce that took effect Monday and ended 34 days of brutal warfare.

Bangladesh, Indonesia, Italy, France and Finland have promised troops. In an effort to encourage more countries to sign on, Annan said the force would not "wage war" on Israel, Lebanon or Hezbollah militants, addressing a key concern of many countries.

But with Europe moving slowly to provide more troops, Israel warned it would continue to act on its own to enforce an arms embargo on the guerrilla group until the Lebanese army and the expanded U.N. force are in place.

The U.N. and Lebanon's government have said Hezbollah will not be allowed to bring weapons out in public but have declined to commit to trying to disarm the guerrillas, as called for in a September 2004 U.N. resolution.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said the raid was not a violation of the cease-fire because it was in response to a violation by Hezbollah.

"If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hezbollah in violation of the resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo," Regev said. "Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active ... then such Israeli activity will become superfluous."

Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr met with U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and threatened to halt the movement of Lebanese troops into the former war zone in the south if the United Nations did not intervene against Israel. That could deeply damage efforts to deploy a strong U.N. peacekeeping force.

"We have put the matter forward in a serious manner, and the U.N. delegation was understanding of the seriousness of the situation," Murr said. "We are awaiting an answer."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the raid during a phone conversation with Annan, who also spoke with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. Saniora told reporters in Beirut that the attack was a "flagrant violation" of the U.N. cease-fire.

A statement issued later Saturday by Annan's office said, "The secretary-general is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities.

"All such violations of Security Council Resolution 1701 endanger the fragile calm that was reached after much negotiation."

The Israeli military said the raid was launched "to prevent and interfere with terror activity against Israel, especially the smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah."

The White House declined to criticize the raid, noting that Israel said it acted in reaction to arms smuggling into Lebanon and that the U.N. resolution calls for the prevention of resupplying Hezbollah with weapons.

"The incident underscores the importance of quickly deploying the enhanced UNIFIL," White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said.

Roed-Larsen said earlier that the Lebanese army has deployed more than 1,500 soldiers in three sectors of the south where Israeli forces have left, and the 2,000 peacekeepers of UNIFIL have set up checkpoints and started patrolling the areas.

The broad outlines of the U.N. cease-fire plan call on Hezbollah to halt attacks and for Israel to stop offensive operations. It gives Israel the right to respond if attacked, but the commandos were flown in by helicopter and the raid took place far from Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Israel did not identify the officer killed in the raid. Hezbollah issued a terse statement saying guerrillas "ambushed" the commando force and suffered no casualties. The Associated Press reported, citing unidentified Lebanese officials, that three guerrillas were killed and three wounded.

Lebanese media speculated that Sheik Mohammed Yazbeck, a senior Hezbollah official in the Bekaa Valley and a member of the group's executive council, may have been Israel's target.

The Israeli army denied it had captured any Hezbollah fighter, and said capturing one had not been the raid's objective.

The area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, 60 miles north of the Israeli border, is a major guerrilla stronghold. Baalbek is the birthplace of Hezbollah, a militant Islamic movement that is supported by Iran and Syria.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, buried 55 fighters Friday and Saturday in Haris, Majdel Silim, Bint Jbail, Deir Qanoun and southern Beirut, security officials said. Israel claims it killed hundreds of guerrillas during the war. Hezbollah reported 68 deaths.

Information from the Washington Post was used in this report.

[Last modified August 20, 2006, 00:34:22]