Israel waiting for final plans to minimize troops in south Lebanon
Lebanon-Israel, Politics, 4/14/1999

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens is now waiting for the final army plans to minimize down to one thousand soldiers the number of Israeli troops in occupied south Lebanon, sources said Tuesday.

The sources added that the Monday attack in the Beaufort Castle where an Israeli soldier was killed in a mine blast planted by Hizbullah has not changed the Israeli decision to bring down the number of soldiers serving in south Lebanon. Arens told the Israeli Knesset defense and foreign affairs committee on Monday that he has not received any criticism from within the army of his plan to minimize the Israeli military presence in south Lebanon. The move is seen as one of Israel's attempts to reduce the number of its human losses and casualties in South Lebanon in light of mounting attacks and resistance activities by Hizbullah fighters.

The Israeli chief of staff Lt. General Shaul Mofaz confirmed that the possibility of evacuating bases in south Lebanon was being investigated in the army. Mofaz told a number of Israeli military correspondents that some time ago a decision was taken to reduce the scope of forces in southern Lebanon. "We reached then the conclusion that it would be right to reduce the number of soldiers on the bases, in order to mitigate the threat posed to our forces," Mofaz admitted.

The dead soldier was a member of the minesweeping unit and was defusing the charge when he was killed. Israeli military officers said they were examining how Hizbullah fighters managed to get that close to the highly-guarded Beaufort Castle and plant their mine without being disturbed, detected or arrested by the Israeli Army. Military sources in Israel admitted that Hizbullah fighters have been using different methods and techniques every time they act in south Lebanon and that those tactics are not so easy for the Israeli army to detect or to abort in advance.

More than a month ago, a similar bomb claimed the lives of four Israelis, including one senior officer. In response, Israel announced that it would not tolerate similar attacks in the future and a Cabinet special session designed a set of Lebanese targets that were to be attacked once Hizbullah carries out a similar bombing.

On Monday night, shortly after the mine blast in the Beaufort, Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for a meeting that went through most of the night. No details came out of the cabinet session on Tuesday morning, but it is believed that the ministers had gone through a list of potential Lebanese targets that Israel's air force might attack in retaliation for the soldier's death. Besides, the Cabinet is believed to have discussed the idea presented by the defense minister to minimize the troops in south Lebanon.

Additional threats were also aired on Tuesday when military and political sources alike were quoted as saying that Israel "will deliver a painful blow" to Hizbullah in response to the attack. The sources said that Israel "would prove to Hizbullah that its intention to change the rules of the game is very serious." The sources said the Israeli Army would not conduct what they called an adventurist land operation deep into Lebanon but would depend mainly on the Israeli air force and artillery to pinpoint Hizbullah and other targets beyond Israel's self-proclaimed security zone.

Army officers said that one dimension of the Israeli retaliation involves the village of Arnoun, which Israel claims to be the base from which Hizbullah fighters had set out recently for attacks on Israeli soldiers in South Lebanon. A few months ago, the Israeli army tried to confront the problem of mines by reerecting a fence between the occupied South Lebanon and the rest of the country northward but that fence had been ripped down by Lebanese who opposed the move.

Previous Stories:
  Meeting with Moratinos, Lahoud stresses cohesion between Syrian, Lebanese tracks   (4/9/1999)
  Austrian FM arrives in Beirut   (3/31/1999)
  Israelis back pullout from Lebanon, refuse withdrawal from Golan   (3/30/1999)

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