Israel: Lebanon's Offer 'Interesting'
Lebanon's offer to deploy 15,000 troops along the border with Israel is "interesting" and worthy of further consideration, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday.
But he said the key to success was disarming Hezbollah, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. To do that, he said, the Lebanese Army would need to be joined by a strong international force.
Israel has long demanded a deployment of Lebanese forces, along with the disarming of Hezbollah guerrillas. Those guerrillas Tuesday launched more than 110 rockets into Israel Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister dismissed a tearful address by Lebanon's prime minister, Fuad Saniora, saying that it's time for leadership by his government.
In other developments:
It appeared Israeli leaders were reluctant to embrace Lebanon's offer more strongly because of concern it might be a ploy to get Israeli troops out of south Lebanon, without removing Hezbollah first.
Israel flatly rejects Lebanon's demand for a withdrawal at the beginning of a cease-fire. Olmert says Israeli troops will leave when an international force is fully in place — and that could take weeks.
Israel's response to the Lebanese offer — including an expected Cabinet decision on Wednesday on whether to stage a massive new ground incursion — will depend on Lebanon's willingness to back its offer with action on the ground, Asaf Shariv, Olmert's chief spokesman, told The Associated Press.
"Basically in the Middle East you never (decide) based on talking. We should see actions, preparing something," he said. "Let's see what happens on the ground."
Israel appeared also to be concerned that the Lebanese army may not be strong enough on its own to prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel.
Olmert on Tuesday reiterated Israel's desire to see Lebanese troops deployed along the border with Israel, but backed by a strong multinational force.
"It looks interesting and we will examine it closely," Olmert said of the Lebanese offer.
"We said from the outset, naturally we would like to see Lebanese army ... combined with strong military support that will come from other countries" in south Lebanon, Olmert added.
He reiterated that Israel has no intention of reoccupying south Lebanon. "The faster we leave south Lebanon, the happier we will be, once we have achieved our goals," he said.
Currently, more than 10,000 Israeli soldiers are fighting several hundred Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon. Israel is trying to push back the guerrillas who have fired thousands of rockets at northern Israel.
On Wednesday, the Israeli Security Cabinet is expected to decide whether to approve an army plan for pushing even deeper into Lebanon, until the Litani River, about 18 miles from the border.
The international community has to make a rapid decision about the makeup and responsibilities of a multinational force, Olmert said, adding that it should include combat troops.
Ground fighting continued to rage in villages and strategic ridges near the Israeli border, including sites used by Hezbollah for rocket barrages that have reached deep into Israel.
Fierce skirmishes broke out around the village of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has tried to control for weeks. Hezbollah TV also reported pre-dawn attacks on Israeli forces near the Mediterranean city of Naqoura, about 2½ miles north of the border.
Israeli air strikes backed up the fighting on the ground.
The Arab League set a baseline demand for the Security Council: a full Israeli withdrawal or no peace deal is possible. The message was given in a tearful address by Saniora, and carried to the United Nations by Arab League envoys.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in a speech to the Knesset, the parliament, said that it was time for Saniora "to wipe away his tears and to start acting in order to create a better future for the citizens for whom he is crying." She added that Israel is paying the price for Saniora's weakness.
Saniora's government voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw.
The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, where Hezbollah rules with near autonomy bolstered by channels of aid and weapons from Iran and Syria. Lebanon has avoided any attempt to implement a 2-year-old U.N. resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, fearing it could touch off widespread unrest.
Saniora, speaking to Al-Arabiya television, praised Hezbollah's resistance, but said it was time for Lebanon to "impose its full control, authority and presence" over the war-weary country.
"There will be no authority, no one in command, no weapons other than those of the Lebanese state," he said.
Saniora also took a jab at Hezbollah's sponsor Syria, which ended a nearly three-decade military presence in Lebanon last year. "Syria should get used to the fact that Lebanon is an independent state," he said, without mentioning Hezbollah's other patron, Iran.