FREE DAILY EMAIL

Isra el will maintain its sea and air blockade on Lebanon to prevent weapons reaching the Hezbollah group after staging a raid three days ago to stop an arms smuggling operation, a United Nations envoy said.

Israel is linking the smuggling of arms to Hezbollah with the lifting of the blockade it imposed, Terje Roed-Larsen said yesterday in Beirut. The air force will carry out attacks if it sees evidence that trucks are bringing weapons into Lebanon from Syria, the daily newspaper Haaretz reported, citing unidentified Israeli military officials.

“What's important now is that the government of Lebanon convincingly show that they are controlling the border,” Roed-Larsen said.

A cease-fire on Aug. 14 halted the fighting that began July 12 and killed about 1 200 Lebanese citizens, Lebanon's government said, and 159 Israelis, according to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Israeli special forces undertook the raid in eastern Lebanon, a move UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said endangered the ``fragile calm'' in the region.

Efforts to smuggle arms to Hezbollah increased after the cease-fire and Israel's air attacks came to a halt, Haaretz cited the officials as saying.

UN Security Council resolution 1 701, which defines the terms of the cessation of hostilities, demands that the Lebanese government secure its border with Syria, as well as its coastline and airport, to prevent Hezbollah, from receiving weapons. The resolution provides no mechanism for enforcing an embargo on arms shipments, Haaretz cited the Israeli officials as saying.

Hezbollah is backed by Syria and Iran.

The conflict began when Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers during a cross-border raid. The Lebanese Shiite Muslim group, designated a terrorist organization by the US and Israel, has been linked to attacks on Israelis and Americans, including rocket assaults on Israeli towns, and bombings in Beirut in 1983 that killed 241 US servicemen and 58 French soldiers.

Hezbollah's television station al-Manar has denied arms were smuggled to the group from Syria and Iran. The group is committed to the UN resolution and the Lebanese government will arrest anyone caught firing rockets at Israel, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr told reporters yesterday in Yarze, east of Beirut.

The U.S. State Department estimates Hezbollah has several thousand fighters and activists and gets about $100-million a year from Iran. The group's stated goals, according to the U.S. State Department, include the destruction of Israel and establishing Islamic rule in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which has two members in the Lebanese cabinet, has defied UN Resolution 1559, approved in 2004, which calls for the disarming and disbanding of all militias in the country.

The UN cease-fire resolution provides for the strengthening of the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon to 15 000 soldiers. Lebanon will deploy about 15 000 soldiers along the border. The state-run National News Agency said two days ago 49 French soldiers have arrived as the first of an additional 200 French service personnel assigned to the mission.

Military planners at the UN are asking countries to contribute soldiers so that an initial force of 3 500 peacekeepers can be sent soon to southern Lebanon. At least seven countries made “relatively firm commitments,” UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown said last week. They include the Muslim majority nations of Bangladesh, Indonesia at Malaysia.

European Union members will meet on Aug. 23 to discuss contributions to the UN force, Finnish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Susanna Parkkonen said yesterday.

US Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona, yesterday criticized France for the size of its commitment after promising to lead the planned 15 000-member peacekeeping force.

“So far, they're saying there would be only about 200' French troops”, McCain said in an interview with NBC News. “It's very disappointing.”

SPONSORED BY

Advanced