Israel special forces strike deep in Lebanon
Dated 20/8/2006
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Israel has mounted a raid deep inside Lebanon fuelling anxieties about the durability of the ceasefire that came into force earlier this week.
Israeli helicopters landed two Hummer vehicles in a mountainous area, 30 km from the city of Baalbeck close to the Syrian border. The commandos then drove these vehicles to the village of Buday where a clash with Hizbollah fighters took place.
Israel stated that the purpose of the raid was to prevent the cross-border smuggling of weapons meant for Hizbollah. Diplomatic sources, however said that raid might have been mounted to seek the two Israeli soldiers that the Hizbollah had captured on July 12. One Israeli soldier was killed and two wounded in the attack.
Assault 'repulsed'
The Al Manar television run by Hizbollah reported that the attack had been successfully repulsed. Israeli special forces had earlier mounted similar assaults at a hospital in Baalbeck and Lebanon's southern city of Tyre. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the Israeli raid was a serious violation of the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, 50 French troops have disembarked at the port of Naqoura to join a United Nations peacekeeping force.
The U.N. has been planning to assemble a force of 3,500 soldiers in 10 days, which would be later expanded to 15,000.
Italy has also been considering sending forces, and the Italian Cabinet has approved in principle, the deployment of troops.
However, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has not made any firm commitment so far. Besides Italy, there are other countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey, which have expressed willingness to contribute troops.
Pakistan and Bulgaria have also agreed to consider troop deployments. U.N. officials, however, said that they wanted "balanced" contribution from European and Muslim countries so that both Israel and Lebanon were comfortable with the arrangement.
Israel has opposed the presence of troops from those countries, including Malaysia, which do not recognise Israel.