Turkey pledges peacekeepers to Lebanon

Progress on blockade?
Annan discussed the issue by telephone with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French President Jacques Chirac, Fawzi said.

Speaking in Alexandria, Egypt on the last leg of a Mideast tour, Annan said he expected “some constructive and positive news” on the blockade within two days.

Annan stopped afterward in Turkey.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, top police intelligence officer Lt. Col. Samir Shehade, who had been investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was wounded by a remote-controlled roadside bomb Tuesday that killed four people in his two-vehicle convoy in Rmaile, near the Mediterranean port city of Sidon.

The motive behind the attack was unknown. But it raised the specter that Lebanon might be in for another round of politically inspired attacks.

Syrian link to attacks?
Some critics of Syria have accused it in the past of using such attacks — including Hariri’s February 2005 slaying in a car bombing that killed 21 others — to intimidate Lebanese leaders. Protests and international pressure in the aftermath of Hariri’s death forced Syria to withdrawal its 29,000 troops from Lebanon last year, ending its military domination of its smaller neighbor.

Acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat told reporters the attack might have been aimed at Lebanese security forces who are deploying in the south.

UNIFIL said Israeli troops pulled out of five small villages in southeast Lebanon near the larger town of Bint Jbail. The villages included Beit Lif, al-Qawzah, Dibel, Ein Ibel and Mhaibeb.

A contingent of U.N. peacekeepers from Ghana moved in. They were followed by around 250 Lebanese soldiers who moved into the areas, according to witnesses and state-run National News Agency.

Israeli withdrawals continue
The Israeli army confirmed troops had pulled out of the towns and surrounding areas, and said the withdrawal would continue in stages in coming days.

Also Tuesday, 120 Lebanese soldiers who had been manning checkpoints on the outskirts of Bint Jbail moved into the devastated town’s center for the first time. Bint Jbail was the scene of fierce ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas and large parts of the town are in ruins.

Lebanese troops also deployed in the nearby villages of Ainata and Aitaroun, where they were greeted by dancing women and men who slaughtered sheep in celebration of their arrival.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in comments published Tuesday that he does not regret the capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12, which sparked 34 days of fighting that killed more than 850 Lebanese and 150 Israelis.

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