Posted on 08/11/2006 10:24:29 AM PDT by SJackson
Decision reached as UN draft would not include Hizbullah disarmament; operation could stop if diplomacy reaches acceptable resolution.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the IDF on Friday to send ground forces into Lebanon and up to the Litani river, some 30 kilometers from Israel.
The decision to go ahead was reached after it became evident that a UN resolution would not include the disarmament of Hizbullah. In any case, officials stressed that the ground operation could come to a halt at any time if an acceptable cease-fire resolution is put on the table.
The IDF has over the passed few days been gearing up for the operation which was approved by the Security Cabinet on Wednesday. According to military sources, close to 70 percent of the Katyusha rockets raining down on Israel are fired just south of, and north of the Litani river. It is in these parts of Lebanon that the Hizbullah's Nasser Unit is waiting with thousands of fighters and functioning command and control centers.
As the decision was made by Peretz and Olmert to order the IDF to move up to the Litani, talks were underway at the United Nations Security Council in New York where it appeared that member countries were on the verge of declaring a cease-fire in the region.
IDF sources said that even if a cease-fire was in the works, Israel was better off being in a better position militarily - at the Litani, and from there to conduct negotiations regarding a cease-fire resolution.
IDF officers on Thursday blasted the diplomatic echelon claiming that Olmert had restrained and limited the military from expanding its ground operations into Lebanon and from dealing a heavy blow to Hizbullah.
40,000 troops were waiting along the northern border for orders to enter Lebanon and to push up to the Litani, and an additional 7000 were currently operating on the ground in Lebanon.
A high ranking defense source told the Jerusalem Post that already early in the morning it was apparent that negotiations at the UN would not bear fruit and diplomats there would not succeed in mutually drafting a cease-fire.
The source said that Peretz and Olmert met for several hours on Friday and reviewed different drafts of the resolution, "once it became clear that there would not be a resolution in the near future, the decision was made for the IDF to launch the operation."
"We gave the diplomatic process a chance, it failed and now we will achieve our goals militarily," said the officer.
The IDF said that it would take at least one week to get to the Litani river and another 4-6 weeks to clear out Hizbullah presence and rocket launchers from the area
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The UN is pro-terrorist. That is why they are useless. And hopefully, Israel will continue to point that out, and do as they need to do to prevent their people from being killed by terrorists.
I hope Israel is keeping an eye on their back door..........
>>Decision reached as UN draft would not include Hizbullah disarmament; operation could stop if diplomacy reaches acceptable resolution. <<
Then I pray we don't contribute troops. I don't want our men and women as peace keepers when there is no peace to keep.
The decision to go ahead was reached after it became evident that a UN resolution would not include the disarmament of Hizbullah.
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Says it all. Forget the U.N.
One way or the other the solution WILL include Hezbollah disarmament. I prefer the Israeli-imposed solution.
Saddle up guys, you have some riding to do. Good luck and good hunting.
So the UN actually thought that Israel would go with Hezbollah not being disarmed? Bwahahahahaha. That would be like letting the Cobras and vipers out of the cages at the zoo and not putting them back...just letting them go around and biting whomever they see fit.
I hope Israel does not call this off until after they push to the Natani, and then come back and clean up the snake pits. Then and only then you put in one of those chapter 7 UN agreements that allow peace keepers to FIRE at threats. The idea tha UNIFIL goes from unarmed oberservers to armed oberservers who still probably will not shoot is unacceptable to Israel.
I wouldn't want our troops over there even if there were peace to keep. Our military shouldn't be a police force.
Git 'er done, Israel.
bttt
US troops were ruled out early on. Ironically, Israel preferred German troops.
We can't even get the American government to admit that Social Security is an utter failure, they'll never admit that the UN is an utter farce.
"The decision to go ahead was reached after it became evident that a UN resolution would not include the disarmament of Hizbullah."
This should have been the easy part since they already passed resolution 1559 that called for the disarmament of Hizbullah years ago.
The more exposure to the UN the USA has, the more obvious to comes to the "average American" we need to get out of the UN.
Does this mean that Sec. Rice has agreed to this UN agreement? If so, unbelievable that the US is agreeing to stab Israel in the back.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
>>I wouldn't want our troops over there even if there were peace to keep. Our military shouldn't be a police force.<<
You're right...
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