Israel warns foes despite truce
Israel will pursue Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon despite the ceasefire ending the month-long war, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned.

He also told parliament his government would do its utmost to secure the release of two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked the conflict.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the ceasefire, which came into force early on Monday, seemed to be holding.

Thousands of people are returning to southern Lebanon following the truce.

Fighting ended at 0500 GMT, although in one later clash, Israeli soldiers shot at a group of Hezbollah fighters in the southern Lebanese town of Hadatha, killing one of them, the army said.

A spokesman said an Israeli patrol felt "under threat" when the fighters approached it and had not broken the terms of the ceasefire.

We will continue pursuing [Hezbollah leaders]... and we do not intend to ask anyone's permission
Ehud Olmert

In his speech to parliament, Mr Olmert said Hezbollah's "state within a state" and "terror organisation" in southern Lebanon had been destroyed in the conflict.

However he added that the group's leaders would "not be left alone".

"We will continue pursuing them anywhere, all the time and we do not intend to apologise or ask anyone's permission," he added.

Mr Olmert - who was heckled by some MPs - admitted Israel had made mistakes but took full responsibility for the war.

He advised patience for his critics, who believe the war did not achieve Israel's original goal of dismantling Hezbollah.

Shattered

The prime minister also said his government would work to secure the release of the two soldiers seized by the group on 12 July.

Lebanese and Israeli military commanders are discussing their fate, an Israeli political sources told the BBC.


IMPACT: 34 DAYS OF FIGHTING
Lebanon deaths:
About 1,000 - mostly civilians
No precise data on Hezbollah dead
Israeli deaths:
Soldiers: 114 (IDF)
Civilians: 43 (IDF)
Lebanon displaced:
700,000 - 900,000 (UNHCR; Lebanese govt)
Israeli displaced:
500,000 (Human Rights Watch)
Lebanon damage:
$2.5bn (Lebanese govt)
Israel damage:
$1.1bn (Israeli govt)
Informal talks are also taking place within the Lebanese government about how to implement the deployment of UN and Lebanese troops in the south, which is called for in the UN ceasefire resolution.

Israel has said its troops will remain in Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force can take control, and that its forces would return fire if attacked.

Mark Malloch Brown, the UN's Deputy Secretary General, told the BBC it might take a month before a joint UN-Lebanese force was fully in place.

Hezbollah also claimed victory in the conflict - it distributed leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the violence.

Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said over the weekend that his fighters would respect it but would resist any continued Israeli presence in Lebanon after the deal came into force.

Mr Annan said the truce appeared to be holding and urged both sides to "continue to consolidate the cessation".


HAVE YOUR SAY
All Olmert has, like his fellow appeaser Chamberlain before him, is a piece of paper
Mark Robertson, Lisbon, Portugal
Roads leading from Beirut and Sidon were jammed with the cars of people returning to inspect their properties and homes.

The BBC's Jim Muir in the town of Bint Jbeil, the site of some of the fiercest fighting, described a scene of devastation with few signs of life.

The body of a woman wrapped in plastic had been left in a shattered building for two weeks, our corresponded added.

The only local residents he found were one man and his disabled wife who had been sheltering in the hospital.

Some 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, 114 of them soldiers, have died in the 34-day conflict.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4791125.stm

Published: 2006/08/14 16:05:34 GMT

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