UN Security Council OKs Lebanon truce

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council has unanimously called for an end to the bloodshed between Israel and Hezbollah and for the deployment of a 15,000-strong international peacekeeping force to prevent further conflict.

Resolution 1701, drawn up by the United States and France and adopted late Friday, also calls for Israeli troops to be withdrawn from southern Lebanon after an end to the fighting.

The council called for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

The Philippine government expressed support for the UN resolution aimed at ending the hostilities in Lebanon.

"We are one with the world in wishing that the UN resolution would pave the way for the early cessation of hostilities," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

But hours after the adoption of the resolution, Israeli aircraft staged raids throughout Lebanon, targeting roads leading to Syria and destroying the electricity plant in south Lebanon’s major city Sidon, Lebanese police said, adding that several people had been killed.

While Israel pursued its military offensive, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to urge his Cabinet to accept the resolution when it meets today, a government spokesman said.

The Lebanese cabinet was to meet yesterday and US officials said it was also expected to accept the resolution.

But Lebanese acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri expressed profound doubts about the likelihood of the resolution being able to end the month-old war.

"A ceasefire that is incomplete is not a true ceasefire. A ceasefire that retains for one side the right not to cease firing is not a ceasefire," Mitri said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran and Syria — considered Hezbollah’s main backers — to respect the resolution, which she said should lay the basis for "lasting peace" between Israel and Lebanon.

But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the time it had taken the major powers to call for a cessation of hostilities had "badly shaken" world’s faith in the council.

The text calls on Lebanon and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to "deploy their forces together" in southern Lebanon, while Israel must "withdraw all of its forces from southern Lebanon in parallel" to the deployment.

The first version of the French-US text had not mentioned a withdrawal and Lebanon had objected, demanding an immediate Israeli pullout.

The text also authorizes an increase in UNIFIL’s strength to a maximum of 15,000 troops from its current size of about 1,190 troops. Lebanon plans to send 15,000 troops to the south.

UNIFIL will monitor the cessation of hostilities and any permanent ceasefire and back up Lebanese armed forces as they deploy across the region now dominated by Hezbollah.

Israel has criticised UNIFIL, which has failed to prevent Hezbollah attacks in recent years, and demanded a more "robust" international force in terms of size and powers to restrain Hezbollah be deployed.

The resolution gives UNIFIL the power to "take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces, and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."

The text did not say which chapter of the UN charter it would be organised under. The United States had wanted a mandate under chapter seven which would give it greater military muscle.

This was opposed by Lebanon. But a senior US State Department official said the force "will be able to defend itself and has a very strong mandate which you would see in a chapter seven resolution."

French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said he thought the extra troops could be deployed "very swiftly" as it is the strengthening of an existing UN force and not the creation of a new entity.

A US official said a meeting could be held at the UN headquarters on Saturday for potential troop contributors.

The resolution also calls for the "unconditional release" of two Israeli soldiers whose abduction by Hezbollah sparked the start of the war on July 12.

Lebanon had raised late questions about the status of the international force and the future of a small parcel of territory, the Shebaa Farms, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The text calls for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to make proposals to settle the Shebaa Farms dispute within 30 days of the vote.

The US secretary of state called on Hezbollah allies Iran and Syria to respect the resolution.

"We call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community," Rice told the Security Council. — With Aurea Calica