Israel won't fully withdraw by Jan. 27 deadline
A meeting Monday of the ceasefire monitoring committee witnessed a negative atmosphere that does not indicate that Israel intends to withdraw from south Lebanon by the weekend, when the 60-day timeframe expires, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“No statement was issued after the meeting,” the daily noted.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had announced overnight, during a TV interview, that the head of the ceasefire committee, U.S. major general Jasper Jeffers, had told him that “the Israeli withdrawal might be delayed for several days.”
Asked about the concerns that Israel might impose a buffer zone inside Lebanon, Mikati stressed that there will be no such zone.
“After the completion of the withdrawal, a tripartite committee will be formed by the five-member (ceasefire monitoring) committee to delineate the Blue Line in a manner that conforms to the 1949 Truce line,” Mikati added.
An informed source meanwhile told al-Akhbar that the Israeli army “has complained that the Lebanese Army has refused to seize resistance assets from depots and homes, or to confiscate arms at a time Lebanese authorities are in a transitional phase, which prompted it to act on the ground by itself, as it did in al-Salhani, Wadi al-Slouki, Tallousa and Bani Hayyan.”
“The Israeli enemy has threatened through UNIFIL to bomb new sites suspected of containing resistance weapons should the (Lebanese) Army fail to raid them, while (Lebanese) military officials have refused to turn into a security force that works at the enemy’s instructions and clashes with residents,” the source said.
The source also revealed that “a force from the army and the monitoring committee raided suspect sites in the southern town of Houmine and the Beirut southern suburb of al-Amrousiyeh without finding anything there.”
As for the Lebanese Army’s request that a specific timeframe be announced for the Israeli withdrawal, the Israeli army has refused to give a specific date, promising to “study the situation on the ground.”
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/310550 |