SLA militias and Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon
Lebanon-Israel, Politics, 3/7/2000

One of the officials in the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army militia, Col. Nabih Abu Rafe, on Monday expressed the satisfaction of the militia over the decision taken by Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon before next July.

In a statement to AFP by telephone, Abu Rafe said, "We welcome the withdrawal decision because the Israeli government takes into its account the South Lebanon Army and its members and calls for finding a solution to their situation." He added, "Everybody is happy here over the possibility of achieving a peace settlement of which the SLA will be an effective part."

Abu Rafe considered the SLA and its members as part of the peace solution, saying they will ask to stay in their country, Lebanon, after signing a peace agreement.

Replying to a question on the possibility of dismembering the militias, Abu Rafe said, "We do not feel concerned since in case an agreement will not be reached with Syria and Lebanon before July 7, we will hold another meeting to take a decision on the fate of the SLA."

Concerning the attacks of the Hizbullah Party which resulted in killing five militia members last week in the sector in which he personally supervises, the SLA officer said these operations will continue until an actual withdrawal is maintained.

He expected that Hizbullah will halt all its operations following a tripartite peace conference bringing together Lebanon, Syria and Israel, to be held in the USA, as he claimed.

The Lebanese state asks for trying the militia members of the SLA but rumors have been started for months on the possibility that countries such as Australia, Canada and even France and Turkey will give political asylum to the militia members, especially officers who are willing to do so.

Previous Stories:
  Lebanon welcomes Israel's decision to withdraw   (3/6/2000)
  Israeli Cabinet approves pullout from Lebanon   (3/6/2000)
  France agrees to host 1,500 members of SLA militia   (3/4/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search