Israel nearly triples troops in Lebanon

[leftchick]

some cease fire eh?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel staged wide-ranging airstrikes and sent commandos into the Hezbollah heartland Saturday as the U.N. raced to begin enforcing its new cease-fire blueprint and stop combat. Airstrikes killed at least 19 people in Lebanon, including 15 in one village, while Hezbollah rockets wounded at least five people in Israel.

Israel also blasted a highway near Lebanon's last open border crossing to Syria as it kept up its full-scale campaign against Hezbollah militants. Long columns of Israeli tanks, troops and armored personnel carriers streamed over the border.

The U.N. plan approved Friday night would create a peacekeeping force by combining a beefed-up version of the ineffective U.N. units already in the war zone and 15,000 soldiers from the Lebanese army. The force, which could number around 30,000, would stand between Israel and the Hezbollah militia.

Israel's Cabinet meets Sunday to approve the U.N. plan. Lebanese officials signaled that their formal backing could come Saturday.

[peacebird]

1. wow - good thing the UN security council passed that cease fire, huh?

I guess these are all DEFENSIVE incursions

:sarcasm:

[leesa]

2. Oh yeah, Israel's real serious about peace. I knew Israel would kick

the crap out of Lebanon until the Sunday vote....and then vote against it Sunday, whining that Hezbollah fired at them...whaaaaaa!

[MrPrax]

3. There is a real disconnect...

between reality and the so-called ceasefire negotiations -- the UN seems to like operating in an oblivious little bubble of it's own convenient design.

[High Plains]

6. Damn that UN! Trying to get a peace agreement.

[MrPrax]

7. They are?

You have some proof that the UN is TRYING to get a peace agreement?

Funny -- looking back over the last 4 weeks...the UN has done precisely what Israel and the US asked it to do and Israel has now signalled that it is willing to wind down it's military campaign -- ceasefire? Peace? Process?

Please--let's not confuse 'consent' with the appearance of 'concern'.

[OhioChick]

4. Sounds like Israel

didn't get the memo about the cease fire. :sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

5. is the idf leaving lebanon

and returning to their side of the border?

[allemand]

8. Israel airlifts troops into southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli helicopters on Saturday airlifted hundreds of soldiers into southern Lebanon as part of its expanded operation against Hizbollah guerrillas in the northern neighbor, the Israeli army said.

"There has been a large-scale helicopter operation which involved flying in hundreds of fighters into south Lebanon as part of a widening of the operation," a spokeswoman said.

The move came less than a day after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for a "full cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Hizbollah.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060812/ts_nm/mideast_israel_airlift_dc_2

Obviously, any "widening of the operation" by the IDF is defensive in nature.

:sarcasm:

[leftchick]

9. IDF: "We will continue to operate until we achieve our aims."

<snip>

Israel's general said the offensive would go on until it was clear how any U.N.-backed ceasefire would take effect.

"We are fighting Hizbollah and will continue to fight it until a ceasefire is decided, but more than that, until it is decided what the mechanism for implementing (that ceasefire) is," Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz told reporters.

"We will continue to operate until we achieve our aims."


aka: who cares what you think!

[breakaleg]

10. In the news reports, they say that Israel will accept the UN resolution

and then they report the increase in troops and offensive, almost as if they are two separate things. Has anyone asked Israel directly why they are increasing the troops if they have agreed to honour this resolution?

[Ghost Dog]

11. I recommend reading Haaretz very closely, to follow Israel from inside:

http://www.haaretz.com/

eg. just now:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749566.html
Last update - 19:07 12/08/2006
Official: Aim is to hand over 'cleaner' S. Lebanon to Lebanese army
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Eli Ashkenazi, and Agencies

A UN-brokered cease-fire would go into effect on Monday morning at 7 A.M., a senior Israeli government official said Saturday afternoon.

By then, IDF forces are expected to reach the Litani River, some 30 kilometers inside Lebanon, with the purpose of cutting off Hezbollah forces further south, toward the border with Israel. In the event that the fighting resumes, IDF forces will then be in a position to move more effectively against Hezbollah militants.

edit: See further interesting DU comment here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2452687#2452768