Israel plans to reoccupy part of Lebanon

BY DION NISSENBAUM and MATTHEW SCHOFIELD
Detroit Free Press
Aug. 04, 2006

TEL AVIV, Israel -- The Israeli military began preparing to reoccupy southern Lebanon on Thursday, and Israeli officials conceded that their three-week bombing campaign has had no significant impact on Hizballah's ability to fire short-range rockets into northern Israel.

The dispatch of thousands of Israeli soldiers to retake as much as one-fifth of Lebanon -- the operation must still be approved by the Israeli cabinet -- would mark a major expansion in Israel's Lebanon campaign and would reverse Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon six years ago after a troubled 18-year occupation.

It also would complicate efforts in the United Nations to arrange a cease-fire and the creation of an international peacekeeping force to police southern Lebanon.

Senior military officials suggest that Israel may have little choice, however. On Thursday, one official admitted that the air war had failed to cripple Hizballah's ability to fire the short-range Katyusha rockets, which form the bulk of the militant Islamic group's aerial arsenal.

"They are still in full capacity to attack our villages," said the official, who briefed a small group of reporters about the military campaign against Hizballah on the condition of anonymity. "In order to stop the firing, we need a major ground offensive against the short-range rockets."

To prove the point, Hizballah fired at least 200 rockets, killing eight people across northern Israel. Four Israeli soldiers also were killed while fighting in southern Lebanon, making Thursday the deadliest day for Israel since fighting began July 12, after Hizballah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in northern Israel.

The military plans came as Hizballah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to strike Tel Aviv if Israel continues bombarding Beirut.

"If you bomb our capital Beirut, we will bomb the capital of your usurping entity. ... We will bomb Tel Aviv," Nasrallah said in a taped address on Hizballah's TV station, Al Manar.

Nasrallah's latest speech suggests that Hizballah still has the ability to strike deeper into Israel. So far, Nasrallah has made good on every threat he's made, from hitting an Israeli naval vessel with a surprise missile attack off Lebanon's coast to striking Haifa, Israel's third-largest city.

Threats of a dramatic escalation from both sides added urgency to negotiations at the United Nations to force a quick cease-fire to end a conflict that's taken nearly 1,000 lives, created 900,000 Lebanese refugees and raised fears of a further-destabilized Middle East.

Since Hizballah sparked the conflict, 68 Israelis have been killed. Nearly two-thirds of those killed have been Israeli soldiers. In response, Israel unleashed a massive air campaign that's killed some 900 Lebanese, most of them civilians.

Until now, Israel has used a relatively limited number of artillery batteries, tanks and soldiers to push Hizballah back from the border.

Maj. Zvika Golan, who is with the Israeli military's Northern Command, said Thursday that Israel has taken control of 20 Lebanese villages along 4 miles of border and is planning to send more troops into Lebanon to create a buffer zone 9 miles deep.

On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz directed the military to prepare for an even more aggressive push that would reach 18 miles into southern Lebanon in a bid to drive Hizballah north of the Litani River.

That would put Israeli soldiers in control of 200 square miles of Lebanon where about 1 million people, many of them Shi'ite Muslims loyal or sympathetic to Hizballah, live.

It remains unclear whether the Israeli government, which earlier this week shelved one military plan for a wider ground operation, will approve this step. And the move could simply be saber-rattling intended to enhance Israel's bargaining position as diplomats at the United Nations try to reach a cease-fire deal that could be approved by early next week.

But the plan is a direct acknowledgement that the air campaign has failed to end the Hizballah rocket threat.