World 'backs Lebanon offensive'

BBC
Jul. 27, 2006

Israel says diplomats' decision not to call for a halt to its Lebanon offensive at a Middle East summit has given it the green light to continue.

"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world... to continue the operation," Justice Minister Haim Ramon said.

His comments came ahead of an Israeli cabinet meeting to decide whether to intensify the military offensive.

There have been more Israeli air raids and fighting continues in the south.

Foreign ministers attending crisis talks on the violence in Rome on Wednesday failed to unite in calling for an immediate ceasefire, vowing instead to work with "utmost urgency" for a sustainable truce.

Speaking on Israeli army radio, Mr Ramon - a close confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - said "everyone understands that a victory for Hezbollah is a victory for world terror".

He said that in order to prevent casualties amongst Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops move in.

'All southerners terrorists'

He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there can be considered Hezbollah supporters.

"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Mr Ramon said.

Mr Ramon's call for the use of greater firepower came as the Israeli cabinet was set to decide whether to broaden its military offensive.

The chief of Israel's northern command, Maj Gen Udi Adam, has warned that he expects the fighting to "continue for several more weeks".

The BBC Jim Muir in Tyre says that the progress of Israeli ground troops has not been as fast as expected as they battle through the difficult terrain of southern Lebanon.

They still have not managed to capture the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil, where they have suffered their worst losses.

An Israeli military official told the BBC that Israel has destroyed 50% of Hezbollah's weapons arsenal, but nonetheless the group's ability to inflict damage appears undiminished - on Wednesday they fired some 150 rockets into Israel, more than on any other day of the conflict.

Pursuing Mr Olmert's plan of pushing Hezbollah back from border areas, in order to prevent them continuing to fire rockets into Israeli territory, and establishing a "security zone" in the south will take many weeks, our correspondent adds.

'Suicide mission'

Meanwhile, Israel's attacks on Lebanon have continued with air strikes on a Lebanese army base and a radio relay station north of Beirut.

Fighting is continuing around the town of Bint Jbeil, in south Lebanon, where nine Israel soldiers died on Wednesday.

And in Tyre the bombing of nearby areas, combined with last night's raid on apartments right inside the city, has sparked a civilian exodus.

In a separate development, Australia has said it will withdraw a contingent of 12 UN peacekeepers, following the death of four UN observers in an Israeli air strike, whom the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, says were "apparently deliberately targeted".

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, speaking at the Asean conference in Malaysia, said sending an international peacekeeping force into southern Lebanon while the conflict continues would amount to a "suicide mission".

Foreign ministers attending crisis talks on the violence in Rome on Wednesday agreed on the need for an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, but not on when and how such a force should be deployed.

The meeting was overshadowed by outcry over the deaths of the UN observers, whom UN officials say had asked Israel repeatedly to stop attacking them before they were killed by an Israeli war plane.

At least 405 Lebanese and 51 Israelis have died in violence since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July.

The BBC's Clare Bolderson in Jerusalem says that despite the escalating death toll public opinion in Israel remains solidly behind the government.

Israelis believe Hezbollah is a threat to their state's existence, our correspondent says, and though there are signs of a weariness with the rockets launched daily at Israel's northern towns, there is no indication they want the bombing to stop.

A poll published by Israel's Maariv daily newspaper on Thursday, has 82% saying they back the continuing offensive and the number saying "Israel's reaction to Hezbollah attacks is justified" remained unchanged at 95%.

The poll was conducted before the death of nine Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon on Wednesday - the biggest loss of Israeli life in a single incident so far during the conflict.