World

Israeli Troops Leave South Lebanon

August 15, 2006 / 7:36 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Israeli forces have withdrawn from the key town of Marjayoun and from their deepest point in southern Lebanon, signaling the beginning of the end of a brief occupation of the region, Lebanese security officials said Tuesday.

During Israel's 18-year occupation of south Lebanon that ended in 2000, the Israeli military and its allied Lebanese militia had used the town as their command center.

The withdrawal from Marjayoun, located about eight miles north of the Israeli border began Monday, the day a cease-fire in Hezbollah-Israeli fighting went into effect.

Reservists are beginning to head home, and Israel plans to begin handing over forward positions in South Lebanon to U.N. forces within 48 hours, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.

In other developments:

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that the U.S. plan for a "new Middle East" has collapsed following Hezbollah's successes in fighting against Israel. Assad, speaking to a journalists' association in Syria, said the region has changed "because of the achievements of the resistance (by Hezbollah)." "The Middle East they (the Americans) aspire to ... has become an illusion," he said.

Israel has 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the bodies of dozens of guerrillas that it could offer in exchange for two captive soldiers, military officials said Tuesday. The U.N. Security Council resolution that led to the cessation of hostilities demands that Hezbollah hand over the Israeli prisoners.

Despite the 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."

Televangelist Pat Robertson, who prayed for victory last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, contends that the cease-fire with Hezbollah has rendered the entire bloody conflict pointless. "Israel went in, but what have they done? Is the word of Isaiah true? — 'We writhed in pain but we gave birth to wind' — I'm afraid so."

By Tuesday, there were no Israeli soldiers or tanks in Marjayoun, the security officials confirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to give information to the media.

Israeli troops also were pulling out of Bourj Al-Mulouk, a town on the road halfway between Israel and Marjayoun in the frontier's eastern sector. But soldiers remained in nearby Qleia.

Israeli troops also abandoned El-Ghandourieh, their farthest reach into Lebanon. Israeli commandos had leapfrogged to that point about 10 miles from the Israeli border by helicopter last week in the final push before a cease-fire took effect.

Israel hopes to complete the evacuation of its forces from Lebanon by next week, Israeli army officials said Tuesday, ending the military operation against Hezbollah guerrillas that began July 12 and left much of south Lebanon a wasteland.

Israeli forces occupied Marjayoun last Thursday as they pushed deep into Lebanon in the final days of the fighting. The area is largely Christian and Hezbollah has little support there. But it is on high ground, with strategic value overlooking both the Israeli border and the Litani River valley.

During their several days' occupation of Marjayoun, Israeli forces took over the local barracks and detained 350 Lebanese army troops and policemen. But the group were subsequently allowed to leave the area, escorted by U.N. troops.

Under the cease-fire agreement, Israeli troops would withdraw and the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers would control a buffer zone to keep Hezbollah guerrillas away from the border.

The Bush administration kept its distance from Israel during the conflict but privately, the administration saw it as a chance to cripple Hezbollah, reported 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.

Lebanon plans to deploy 15,000 of its soldiers on the north side of the Litani River by the end of this week, its defense minister said Monday.

The current U.N. peacekeeping force of 2,000 soldiers would assume positions vacated by Israel before handing them over to the Lebanese army, Elias Murr told Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television. He expects international troops to begin arriving within the next 10 days.

The minister also said that when the Lebanese army deploys south of the Litani, "there will be no other weapons or military presence other than the army."

Still, the army would not ask Hezbollah to hand over its weapons, because the matter should be solved through a national dialogue, Murr told Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television.