IT was supposed to be the day the maligned Lebanese army took control of the country's borders and policed the UN ceasefire. Instead, the military commanders were left humiliated and troops stranded as Hezbollah told them not to disarm its fighters. The first infantry units were preparing to head south when Hezbollah showed who controls the area by announcing it would not surrender its weapons.
General Michel Sleiman, commander-in-chief of the Lebanese army, and his lieutenants had been invited to join cabinet meetings to finalise plans to deploy the 15,000-strong force south of the Litani River. But they were lectured by Hezbollah's two ministers in the coalition Government on what the army could and could not do.
In Beirut, Western diplomats said the standoff raised concerns about the army's ability to deal with Hezbollah. The Lebanese Government is left struggling to maintain a united front after unanimously backing the UN resolution on Saturday. "The Government can't force Hezbollah to abide by the ceasefire," Economics Minister Sami Haddad said. "It's unnatural to have an armed political party in cabinet that does not abide by what the Government of Lebanon wants."
| Unnatural, that pretty well describes the Hezbies. |
The standoff came after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his fighters would respect the ceasefire, describing the deployment of Lebanese and foreign troops to the south as "an honourable move". But without Lebanese troops or the planned international force in the intended demilitarised zone, there is little prospect of the ceasefire holding.
There were optimistic murmurs about trying to integrate Hezbollah fighters into the army. But Hezbollah seems to have decided that the demand for its fighters to disarm and leave the 20km arms-free zone would show it as losers in the conflict.
Defence Minister Elias Murr said in the early days of the war: "We will defend our land until the last soldier, and we will pay any price for our land." But troops retreated to their barracks or lounged on armoured vehicles in a token effort to police checkpoints around the capital or protect key buildings.
Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese general, said: "Sending 15,000 troops south is a political solution, not a military one. It's more a PR stunt. The army needs the international force to help it.
"The key objective is to keep the army united and not have it split on factional lines, as it did in the civil war."
The army's equipment is poor, and no match for the Israelis. Lebanon has no air force or navy.
One soldier said Hezbollah was better armed and organised, and that he was reluctant to confront "the resistance fighters". Another soldier said his brother and a cousin were fighting for Hezbollah. "I can't turn a gun on the resistance, because they are family," he said.