09 November 2006

BEIRUT/GHAJAR: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expects to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Lebanese part of Ghajar and other border territories today, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday. "UNIFIL is carrying out an investigative patrol in order to confirm the Israeli withdrawal from the area around Ghajar," UNIFIL spokesperson Milos Strugar told The Daily Star. "UNIFIL will verify the withdrawal tomorrow with the handover of the area to the Lebanese Army.

"The Israelis are still present inside Lebanese territory in Ghajar and the immediate vicinity of a few hundred meters. Hopefully, soon we will have an agreement over this."

In Israel, an Israeli military official confirmed on Tuesday that "at 1500 hours (1300 GMT) we withdrew forces from open areas north of the village of Ghajar. But at the moment, we are not changing our deployment inside the village itself."

Eyewitnesses reported on Wednesday that Israeli troops had still not withdrawn from Ghajar or its surrounding areas, however, and Lebanese journalists in the area reported a confrontation with Israeli forces on the outskirts of the village. The National News Agency's Southern correspondent told The Daily Star that "any withdrawal of the Israeli Army from Ghajar has not been yet spotted."

In addition, Israeli soldiers reportedly set up checkpoints in and around Ghajar and conducted extensive patrols of the area on Wednesday.

While standing next to barbed wire separating the northern part of Ghajar from Lebanon, a group of Lebanese journalists were approached by an Israeli soldier who ordered them to leave the area, despite their position on Lebanese land.

The Israeli patrol threatened that it would be forced to fire on the journalists "since the area is still under Israeli authority," one patrol member said.

When a reporter from Hizbullah's Al-Manar television stationed refused to budge, the Israeli soldier singled him out and said "you specifically cannot be here."

Soldiers from the Indian contingent of UNIFIL intervened, convincing the journalists to follow Israeli orders and recording the incident.

UNIFIL's commander, Major General Alain Pellegrini, told reporters that the force would be looking closer into the Israeli presence around Ghajar.

As for the Israeli withdrawal from the village of Ghajar itself, Pellegrini said that the Israeli troops informed him they soon would be pulling out from the western bank of the Hasbani River, which runs near the border village.

The developments came as a top US defense official, speaking from Amman on Wednesday, said that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government should exert sovereignty over all Lebanese territory to avert another war.

"Our Defense Department is going to do its share in helping the Lebanese armed forces to take control over the whole country," US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman told reporters.

"In order to prevent another crisis from happening, the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Army, have to exert its sovereign control over the whole country, including the Aouth," Rodman added on the eve of a trip to Beirut. - With agencies, Naharnet