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Three-pronged attack aims to push Hizbullah back to Litani

The security cabinet approved early Tuesday morning expanded ground operations in Lebanon, while the IDF, under the assumption that only a few days were left for the operations against Hizbullah, was already gearing up Monday night for a massive ground incursion into Lebanon on three different fronts, utilizing the Golani, Nahal and the Paratroopers infantry brigades.

The plan, senior IDF sources said, was to utilize the last remaining days of the operation, which they estimated would be over by week's end, to push Hizbullah back as far north as the Litani River in central Lebanon. The plan was pending approval by the cabinet, which was meeting late Monday night.

"An extensive ground operation could destroy the Hizbullah terror infrastructure there," a high-ranking IDF source said. "This is our opportunity to strike at Hizbullah."

Defense Minister Amir Peretz rejected calls for a cease-fire on Monday. "This is a difficult and painful fight but we can overcome it," he said during a speech in the Knesset plenum. "We cannot agree to a cease-fire that will go into effect immediately."

In addition to the attempt to push Hizbullah north to the Litani, the IDF is also working on carving out a two-kilometer security zone along the northern border, under which all of the Hizbullah outposts there would be completely razed and guerrillas would not be allowed to return to the borderline area.

Hizbullah fired two Katyusha rockets at Kiryat Shmona on Monday. No one was wounded, but fires broke out as a result of the explosions.

At the moment, the IDF said that it did not intend to send the thousands of reservists who had been called up under emergency orders into Lebanon. Sources said the reservists would be used the earliest by Wednesday, although the decision was dependent on decisions made at the late-night cabinet meeting.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292045787&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The security cabinet approved early Tuesday morning expanded ground operations in Lebanon, while the IDF, under the assumption that only a few days were left for the operations against Hizbullah

Actually Bush could give them all the time they need, while looking like he is working for peace. Think about it. He has already said that there will be no US or UK peacekeepers in Lebanon. So who is going to make up this international force that is going to go toe to toe with Hizbullah and almost certainly face combat? Is it going to be France, Russia, Switzerland, Honduras or Pago Pago? And that would require a mixed nationality force to be assembled, supplied and moved into position. But none of the likely players have serious sea lift capacity near Lebanon. France would take time to mobilize and the Black Sea ports are no longer in Russian hands. They would have to sail around Europe and through the Med. Or they would have to wast time fixing all the blown bridges. Israel can put a few more bombs into the airport to be sure they can't fly them in. Lets face it the maritime powers can put an infantry force anywhere in the world in a few days. But the rest of these jokers would take a month just to get their equipment in theater.

And if Bush really wants to play it cool he could call for Security Council hearing to debate the cease fire agreement and agree on the composition of the peace keepers. Just ordering room service for the bunch of UN pigs would take days. Think how the North Koreans spent weeks arguing about a round or square table during the end of the Korean War. We could play that game as well. You appear calm and completely reasonable, but use the UN's own bureaucracy to tie the whole peace process up in an infinite ball of red tape.

And all the while Israel can keep on pounding Hizbullah forward into the stone age. I don't know if they have the guts to do it, but there is nothing to say they couldn't.