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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Israel steps up push for Iran to join withdrawal from Lebanon |
| 2005-03-07 |
| ISRAEL is hoping a Syrian pullout from Lebanon will force the departure of Iranian Revolutionary Guards embedded with the Hezbollah militia north of Israel's border. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese Late last night, Australian time, witnesses reported seeing Syrian soldiers packing up equipment at several positions in the Lebanese mountains east of Beirut, ahead of the expected pullback of Syrian forces to eastern Lebanon. Soldiers in positions in Mdairij, Soufar and Aley were dismantling communications equipment or loading personal belongings and light military equipment on to military trucks at the bases. Israeli leaders and officials have pointed out that the UN resolution ordering the withdrawal of armed forces from Lebanon is not limited to the Syrian soldiers. "The UN has called for the departure from Lebanon of all foreign elements, and Syria is not the only foreign element there," Ephraim Halevy, former chief of the Mossad secret service, told Israel Radio. In contacts with the US and France, which are at the forefront of international pressure for a Syrian pullout, Israel claims that if Lebanon is to reclaim its sovereignty, such a withdrawal will be incomplete without the departure of the Iranians. Although there are only a few dozen Iranian guards in the border region, they represent an Iranian strategic arm that Israel takes seriously. Thousands of rockets supplied by Iran have been deployed in southern Lebanon by Hezbollah. Israel believes the Iranian guards posted to Hezbollah have trained the militiamen on how to use the rockets and have been involved in deploying the weapons. The rockets, some of which can reach the northern Israeli city of Haifa, are seen by Tehran as a deterrent against long-range Israeli strikes at Iranian nuclear centres. But they are also available to Hezbollah for the militia's use. A few months ago, an Iranian-made drone launched from southern Lebanon overflew northern Israel on a reconnaissance mission before crashing into the sea. Iranian sources later suggested that drones filled with explosives could be sent as well. Israeli officials expressed hope at the weekend that a Syrian withdrawal would permit the Lebanese Government to post its troops along the Israeli border, curtailing the presence there of Hezbollah fighters. However, the withdrawal could have the opposite effect, with Hezbollah's disciplined forces moving into the vacuum left by the Syrian departure, and Hezbollah becoming an even more powerful element in Lebanon, where it has come to play an increasingly important political role. But Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that if Syria were to withdraw fully from Lebanon, the way would then be open for direct peace talks to take place between Israel and Lebanon. |
| Posted by:Steve |