United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan accused Israel of violating the United Nations Security Council ceasefire resolution and only vaguely referred to the violation by Hizbullah's smuggling of weapons from Syria.
But the lack of a significant number of troops from European nations for the proposed international force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), along with Hizbullah's refusal to disarm, may signal an end to the erosion of Israel's diplomatic position.
"If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hizbullah in violation of the resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active ... then such Israeli activity will become superfluous."
Annan already has made it clear that the U.N. does not intend to enforce the resolution and disarm Hizbullah. He has claimed that the UNIFIL mandate is to keep Hizbullah from attacking Israel while leaving the matter of disarmament for diplomats.
The deterrence potential of the U.N. has weakened with the lack of a strong European commitment, which has clearly disappointed leaders of the international body. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said, "The particular appeal I want to make... is that Europe comes forward with troops for this first wave [of troops]."
He said it will be "challenging" to come up with 3,500 soldiers by the end of the week, far less than the original plan of up to 20,000 soldiers. France is sending 200 men instead of more than 10,000 as originally planned. Brown claimed that he has sent to several nations a clearer definition of the UNIFIL mandate.
The deputy secretary-general did not specify when UNIFIL officers could open fire but made it clear that there is no intention for the force to disarm Hizbullah terrorists. "[It] is not an offensive force," he told reporters in New York. "This is not going to be a force...to disarm Hizbullah, but [it] is going to provide Israel with that security guarantee. Rather it is going to police the political agreement which triggers disarmament....Where combatants forcefully resist a demand from UNIFIL or from the Lebanese army to disarm, UNIFIL will then exercise use of force, if it has to, to force that disarmament."
One sticking point is the increasing possibility that anti-Israel Muslim nations will make up a large part of the force. Brown and Israel have made contradictory statements concerning the presence of soldiers from Malaysia and Indonesia. Israel has objected to their being part of a force to protect Israel, particularly in light of Malaysia's call to other nations to cut off diplomatic ties with Israel.
However, Brown stated, "As a number of people have said, the final word on what is acceptable is ours, and these troops are deployed in Lebanese territory, not Israeli territory."
He added that it is important that Muslim nations be represented in the force along with European nations in order to keep a balance. "The more we can fill this force out with a number of key nationalities providing major pillars or legs to it, the more the Israelis can be persuaded to look at its overall composition rather than focusing singularly on particular contributors," he explained.
An unnamed senior IDF commander told the The New York Times that Hizbullah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah is marked for death. "There is only one solution for him,” he said. "This man must die."
The newspaper reported his comments on Israel's resolve to keep Hizbullah from re-arming one day before the daring commando raid in eastern Lebanon Saturday morning aimed at Hizbullah leaders who had smuggled weapons from Syria.
The United States also has been trying to prevent arms from getting to Hizbullah, according to a report in USA Today. It stated that on the eighth day of the Hizbullah terrorist war, the U.S. convinced Iraq and Turkey to prevent an Iranian cargo plane from entering their air space on the way to Syria with advanced missiles intended for the terrorist organization.
The IDF officer interviewed by The New York Times maintained that the war showed that Hizbullah is not just Israel's problem. "The world understands that we are helping to stop the influence of Iran," he said.
The officer also revealed that contrary to previous denials by the government, civilian officials delayed the IDF ground movement for four days until the administration realized that it was losing ground in diplomatic negotiations.
He also admitted that the IDF miscalculated the amount and quality of weapons in the Hizbullah arsenal. The officer added that there is no such thing as a decisive victory against terrorism, but that Israel scored a success in the retaliation against the Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel.
Israel eliminated more than three-quarters of Hizbullah's medium and long range missile launchers, he explained, and its ability to destroy launchers within one minute after their use is unmatched by any other country.
But the lack of a significant number of troops from European nations for the proposed international force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), along with Hizbullah's refusal to disarm, may signal an end to the erosion of Israel's diplomatic position.
"If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hizbullah in violation of the resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active ... then such Israeli activity will become superfluous."
Annan already has made it clear that the U.N. does not intend to enforce the resolution and disarm Hizbullah. He has claimed that the UNIFIL mandate is to keep Hizbullah from attacking Israel while leaving the matter of disarmament for diplomats.
The deterrence potential of the U.N. has weakened with the lack of a strong European commitment, which has clearly disappointed leaders of the international body. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said, "The particular appeal I want to make... is that Europe comes forward with troops for this first wave [of troops]."
He said it will be "challenging" to come up with 3,500 soldiers by the end of the week, far less than the original plan of up to 20,000 soldiers. France is sending 200 men instead of more than 10,000 as originally planned. Brown claimed that he has sent to several nations a clearer definition of the UNIFIL mandate.
The deputy secretary-general did not specify when UNIFIL officers could open fire but made it clear that there is no intention for the force to disarm Hizbullah terrorists. "[It] is not an offensive force," he told reporters in New York. "This is not going to be a force...to disarm Hizbullah, but [it] is going to provide Israel with that security guarantee. Rather it is going to police the political agreement which triggers disarmament....Where combatants forcefully resist a demand from UNIFIL or from the Lebanese army to disarm, UNIFIL will then exercise use of force, if it has to, to force that disarmament."
One sticking point is the increasing possibility that anti-Israel Muslim nations will make up a large part of the force. Brown and Israel have made contradictory statements concerning the presence of soldiers from Malaysia and Indonesia. Israel has objected to their being part of a force to protect Israel, particularly in light of Malaysia's call to other nations to cut off diplomatic ties with Israel.
However, Brown stated, "As a number of people have said, the final word on what is acceptable is ours, and these troops are deployed in Lebanese territory, not Israeli territory."
He added that it is important that Muslim nations be represented in the force along with European nations in order to keep a balance. "The more we can fill this force out with a number of key nationalities providing major pillars or legs to it, the more the Israelis can be persuaded to look at its overall composition rather than focusing singularly on particular contributors," he explained.
An unnamed senior IDF commander told the The New York Times that Hizbullah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah is marked for death. "There is only one solution for him,” he said. "This man must die."
The newspaper reported his comments on Israel's resolve to keep Hizbullah from re-arming one day before the daring commando raid in eastern Lebanon Saturday morning aimed at Hizbullah leaders who had smuggled weapons from Syria.
The United States also has been trying to prevent arms from getting to Hizbullah, according to a report in USA Today. It stated that on the eighth day of the Hizbullah terrorist war, the U.S. convinced Iraq and Turkey to prevent an Iranian cargo plane from entering their air space on the way to Syria with advanced missiles intended for the terrorist organization.
The IDF officer interviewed by The New York Times maintained that the war showed that Hizbullah is not just Israel's problem. "The world understands that we are helping to stop the influence of Iran," he said.
The officer also revealed that contrary to previous denials by the government, civilian officials delayed the IDF ground movement for four days until the administration realized that it was losing ground in diplomatic negotiations.
He also admitted that the IDF miscalculated the amount and quality of weapons in the Hizbullah arsenal. The officer added that there is no such thing as a decisive victory against terrorism, but that Israel scored a success in the retaliation against the Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel.
Israel eliminated more than three-quarters of Hizbullah's medium and long range missile launchers, he explained, and its ability to destroy launchers within one minute after their use is unmatched by any other country.