Israeli Withdrawal From Lebanon May Take A While
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - A senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer assessed Wednesday that the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon could take months. This, he told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is due to the fact that the "deployment of [15,000 UN peacekeepers] in south Lebanon is likely to take several months. It is not clear exactly how many." Israel had stated that it would not withdraw its forces until the Lebanese army and a new multi-national force were ready to fill the vacuum. Otherwise, Jerusalem feared, Hezbollah would take advantage of the situation to reestablish itself. Government sources in Beirut told Ha'aretz that the Lebanese army would begin deploying in southern Lebanon Wednesday, but would only send a symbolic force at this time. Lebanon has promised to station 15,000 soldiers in its southern regions. Likewise, the UN was saying that at best it could have 3,500 additional troops out of 15,000 promised in the area within 10 days. Its officials insisted, however, that the 2,000 UN peacekeepers already in Lebanon were perfectly capable of overseeing Israel's withdrawal and securing the area. Jerusalem had criticized the UN Interim Force in Lebanon as a "worthless" entity that repeatedly failed to deter terrorist aggression from Lebanon towards Israel. It said that until a more robust force was in p |
