February 11, 2009 6:08 PM
- Text
Bush: 'A New Power' In South Lebanon
(CBS/AP)
President Bush said Monday that Hezbollah guerillas suffered a defeat at the hands of Israel in their month-long Mideast war.
"There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush also said the war was part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror and "we can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks."
Mr. Bush said Iran and Syria were the primary sponsors of Hezbollah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers, igniting the battle with Israel. More than 900 people were killed in the fighting, and there was massive destruction in southern Lebanon.
Mr. Bush said the "responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah."
The president spoke at the State Department after conferring with his national security team, first at the Pentagon and then at the State Department. He was flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Bush administration kept its distance from Israel during the conflict but privately, the administration saw it as a chance to cripple Hezbollah, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante. The White House got nervous when that didn't happen quickly and is now hoping Israel did enough damage to neutralize Hezbollah.
Mr. Bush said the U.N. cease-fire resolution adopted Friday was "an important step forward that will help bring an end to the violence."
"We certainly hope the cease-fire holds," the president said.
"Lebanon can't be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state, and that's Hezbollah," Mr. Bush said.
"Hezbollah attacked Israel without any knowledge of the (Lebanese) government. Hezbollah attacked Israel. Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis," the president said.
In the Mideast, there were competing claims about who came out on top in the month-long war that claimed more than 900 lives.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the war had shifted the strategic balance in the region and eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah, restoring Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.
But Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said his guerrillas achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel. "We came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were defeated (before)," Nasrallah said.
"Both sides will claim victory, but recognize further conflict has no benefit. As long as Hezbollah is somewhat constrained, as it was before, Israel can deal with the outcome," Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said on CBS News' The Early Show. "We have to watch both sides to see if they can keep the cease-fire intact in the next few hours and days and what happens over the next month."
One Israeli commentator called it merely "the beginning of the countdown to the next war" but CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports
that a more optimistic view is that cease-fires here are a process of phased relaxation.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civilians streamed back to their homes Monday after a U.N. cease-fire halted fighting in a month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas that has claimed more than 900 lives and sent people fleeing on both sides of the border. The Lebanese returned to find "block after block, totally destroyed, some of the buildings still smoldering," reportsCBS News correspondent Kristen Gillespie (audio).
Israelis also emerged emerging from bomb shelters, as Hezbollah rockets stopped falling on northern cities, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. But in a sign that Israelis are unsure that the cease-fire will hold, there has been no influx of returning refugees.
In other developments:
Just hours after the start of a U.N. cease-fire, Hezbollah guerillas fired at least 10 Katyusha rockets into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, the army said. None of them reached Israel and no injuries were reported. Hezbollah has said it will attack Israeli forces in southern Lebanon despite the truce.
An Israeli air strike late Monday destroyed a house in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least eight people, officials said. The military said an Islamic Jihad command center was targeted but Palestinians said the building was empty.
Two members of a Fox News crew were kidnapped Monday in Gaza City. According to witnesses and to Fox, a car carrying the crew was ambushed by Palestinian gunmen, who kidnapped two of the journalists. Fox News said in a statement, "We can confirm that two of our people were taken against their will in Gaza."
At least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that exploded as they returned to their homes in south Lebanon after 34 days of Israeli air strikes, security officials said. Hezbollah accused Israel of rigging explosives to intentionally harm civilians, especially children, returning to their homes in the south.
Three Palestinians were killed early Monday in an Israeli military strike near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Israel said it fired at the three after they launched two homemade rockets that hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad confirmed the militant group fired rockets at the town.
"There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush also said the war was part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror and "we can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks."
Mr. Bush said Iran and Syria were the primary sponsors of Hezbollah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers, igniting the battle with Israel. More than 900 people were killed in the fighting, and there was massive destruction in southern Lebanon.
Mr. Bush said the "responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah."
The president spoke at the State Department after conferring with his national security team, first at the Pentagon and then at the State Department. He was flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Bush administration kept its distance from Israel during the conflict but privately, the administration saw it as a chance to cripple Hezbollah, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante. The White House got nervous when that didn't happen quickly and is now hoping Israel did enough damage to neutralize Hezbollah.
Mr. Bush said the U.N. cease-fire resolution adopted Friday was "an important step forward that will help bring an end to the violence."
"We certainly hope the cease-fire holds," the president said.
"Lebanon can't be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state, and that's Hezbollah," Mr. Bush said.
"Hezbollah attacked Israel without any knowledge of the (Lebanese) government. Hezbollah attacked Israel. Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis," the president said.
In the Mideast, there were competing claims about who came out on top in the month-long war that claimed more than 900 lives.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the war had shifted the strategic balance in the region and eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah, restoring Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.
But Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said his guerrillas achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel. "We came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were defeated (before)," Nasrallah said.
"Both sides will claim victory, but recognize further conflict has no benefit. As long as Hezbollah is somewhat constrained, as it was before, Israel can deal with the outcome," Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said on CBS News' The Early Show. "We have to watch both sides to see if they can keep the cease-fire intact in the next few hours and days and what happens over the next month."
One Israeli commentator called it merely "the beginning of the countdown to the next war" but CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports
that a more optimistic view is that cease-fires here are a process of phased relaxation.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civilians streamed back to their homes Monday after a U.N. cease-fire halted fighting in a month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas that has claimed more than 900 lives and sent people fleeing on both sides of the border. The Lebanese returned to find "block after block, totally destroyed, some of the buildings still smoldering," reports
Israelis also emerged emerging from bomb shelters, as Hezbollah rockets stopped falling on northern cities, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. But in a sign that Israelis are unsure that the cease-fire will hold, there has been no influx of returning refugees.
In other developments:
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