Israel defends raid as Mideast cease-fire teeters

updated 7:59 p.m. ET Aug. 19, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli commandos raided a Hezbollah stronghold deep in Lebanon on Saturday, engaging in a fierce gunbattle, and the Lebanese government threatened to halt further troop deployments in protest as the 6-day-old U.N.-brokered cease-fire was put to a critical test.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the operation a violation of the U.N. truce, according to a statement from his spokesman.

Israel said the raid — launched to stop arms smuggling from Iran and Syria to the militant Shiite fighters — left one Israeli officer dead and two soldiers wounded.

There were no signs of further clashes, but the flare-up underlined worries about the fragility of the cease-fire as the U.N. pleaded for nations to send troops to an international force in southern Lebanon that is to separate Israeli and Hezbollah fighters.

A contingent of 49 French soldiers landed in the south Saturday, providing the first reinforcements for the 2,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL that has been stationed in the region for years. About 200 more were expected next week.

They were the first additions to what is intended to grow into a 15,000-soldier U.N. force to police the truce with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. France leads UNIFIL and already had 200 soldiers in Lebanon before the reinforcements.

But with Europe moving slowly to provide more troops, Israel warned it would continue to act on its own to enforce an arms embargo on the Lebanese guerrilla group until the Lebanese army and an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force are in place.

“If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hezbollah 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.”

Defense Minister Elias Murr met with U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and threatened to halt the movement of Lebanese troops into the former war zone in the south if the United Nations did not intervene against Israel. That could deeply damage efforts to deploy a strong U.N. peacekeeping force.

“We have put the matter forward in a serious manner and the U.N. delegation was understanding of the seriousness of the situation,” Murr told reporters. “We are awaiting an answer.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the raid during a phone conversation with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying it was “intended to prevent the re-supply of new weapons and ammunition for Hezbollah,” officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

The Israeli leader pointed to the importance of the supervision of the Syrian-Lebanese border as well, they said.

The Israeli military also said the raid was launched “to prevent and interfere with terror activity against Israel, especially the smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah.”

The Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected the characterization of the raid as a truce violation, saying the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers must take control of Lebanon’s border with Syria to ensure arms don’t reach Hezbollah.

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