Israel Wants Rules Of Engagement In Lebanon
Joseph S. Mayton - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Beirut, Lebanon (AHN) - One of the main reasons for Israel's stalling their withdrawal from southern Lebanon is that no rules of engagement have been agreed upon. Tel Aviv wants to have such rules agreed upon in south Lebanon before they pullout the remaining Israeli troops, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Tuesday. "I hope very much that during the coming week, at the most a few more days, we will complete the withdrawal," Peretz told reporters. "There are arrangements, negotiations [and] deliberations which we intend to complete in order to set the rules - what is permitted and what is forbidden - from the moment we're sitting on the blue line [the international border]," the Defense Minister added. Israeli officials have continually said they hoped to bring all troops home by Sunday, which coincides with the start of the Jewish day of atonement, Yom Kippur. Sources in Lebanon say that the Jewish state has pulled out of an estimated 90 percent of the territory it captured during the 34-day with Hezbollah that ended August 14 with a United Nations- brokered ceasefire agreement.
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