Monday, November 20, 2006

Israeli Raid Threatens Lebannon Cease-Fire

Maintaining a certain level of anxiety and tension among both its constituents, as well as among its opponents, is a central part of the strategy of the Israeli Government's relations with its neighbors. So I wasn't really surprised to read, in The Observer/Guardian, over the weekend, that the IDF had staged a big raid into the Beka'a valley:

Army raid in Bekaa 'breaks' ceasefire
Lebanese Defence Minister threatens to halt deployment of troops in former Hizbollah areas Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and Jason Burke in Paris
Sunday August 20, 2006The Observer

The ceasefire in Lebanon was holding by a thread last night after Israel sanctioned a commando raid in the east of the country. Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said Israel had violated the truce, and he was 'deeply concerned' about it.

But the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, claimed that the attack was intended to prevent the supply of new weapons and ammunition to Hizbollah.

Meanwhile renewed arguments developed about the composition of the UN peacekeeping force in the south of the country. As the first international troops charged with boosting the UN Interim Force (Unifil) in Lebanon - 50 French soldiers - landed yesterday near Naqoura, three miles from the Israeli border, the Lebanese Defence Minister threatened to halt the deployment of Lebanese national troops into areas previously controlled by Hizbollah.

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