Lebanon army raises flag on border with Israel

Labbouneh (Lebanon), Oct 2: Lebanese army units deployed in border villages today vacated by Israeli forces in line with a UN truce that ended a war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

Lebanon demanded Israel pull out from the Lebanese part of Ghajar village, warning of ''trouble'' if the Jewish state failed to do so.

Israeli forces today withdrew from south Lebanon except from the small village.

UN peacekeepers have said they hoped Israeli troops would pull out from Ghajar this week to complete the withdrawal under UN Resolution 1701 which ended the 34-day war on August 14.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said Beirut would complain to the Security Council if Israel did not withdraw from the village. ''If Israel does not withdraw from Ghajar then it means that it wants trouble in south Lebanon,'' Salloukh told Voice of Lebanon radio.

Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers in armoured troop carriers (APC), trucks and jeeps deployed in the villages of Marwaheen, Ramia, Kfar Kila and Maroun al-Ras.

In the devastated village of Marwaheen, villagers lined up the streets and threw rice and flowers at an army convoy of 10 APCs.

Women ululated and men waved at the soldiers.

''The army is most welcome here. It is our protector and our guarantor, we've been waiting a lifetime for it to deploy here,'' Mohammad Ghannam, 60, told Reuters.

Thousands of Lebanese troops have deployed in south Lebanon since the end of the war for the first time in four decades. The UN resolution authorised the deployment of up to 15,000 international peacekeepers in the area to help the Lebanese soldiers to control the south, a Hizbollah stronghold.

''As the army is entering our village, we feel like we are born again today,'' Zainab Mohammad, 55, said. ''This army is (made up of) our children, we want the wars to end.''

BORDER CEREMONY

Around 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, died in the worst fighting since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Many villages, a Beirut district and infrastructure facilities were destroyed by Israeli air strikes while Hizbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel.

The Lebanese army held a ceremony at Labbouneh, few metres from the border, to mark the Israeli withdrawal during which a Lebanese flag was raised on a post.

''I call on you to confront (any) Israeli aggressions and violations within the available capabilities,'' army commander General Michel Suleiman told soldiers in a speech.

Suleiman said the government had promised to supply the military with modern weapons, including helicopters, patrol boats and rockets to enable it to carry out its duties better.

The Israeli army said yesterday it had completed its withdrawal from south Lebanon except for around Ghajar. It said troops would remain until there was an arrangement with the UN peacekeepers and Lebanese army.

Ghajar is half inside Lebanon and half inside territory Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

REUTERS

Related Stories