News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Olmert administration has approved renewing the mandate for United Nations Interim Troops (UNIFIL) but so far has not been successful in including a clause demanding the return of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Hizbullah terrorists abducted them on July 12, 2006, the first day of the 34-day war.

Both Prime Minister Olmert and American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice vowed that the war would not end without the return of the soldiers, but eventually they capitulated after the international community turned against Israel, which failed to deliver an expected quick victory.

The U.N. mandate does not make ceasefire Resolution 1701 dependent on the return of the soldiers and instead only requests their freedom. The UNIFIL forces also have not sealed the border against the smuggling of weapons to Hizbullah. Such smuggling is prohibited by the ceasefire resolution.