By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Eli Ashkenazi, and Agencies-12/08/2006
Ehud Olmert`s office said late Friday that the expanded incursion into Lebanon would continue "for the time being," despite agreeing to a cease-fire resolution drafted by the United Nations Security Council.
Israel will press ahead with its military offfensive in south Lebanon until Israel`s Cabinet approves an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said early Saturday.
"The logic would be that even in the framework of this successful outcome, if you hand over to the Lebanese army a cleaner south Lebanon, a south Lebanon where you have Hezbollah removed from the territory, that makes their [the Lebanese] troubles a lot easier," Regev said.
Senior Israel Defense Forces officers said that the IDF is "continuing forward at full power," and that all forces slated to take part in the expanded incursion have already assumed forward positions in the field.
Olmert will ask his cabinet on Sunday to accept the resolution, but will press the military offensive against Hezbollah until then, a political source said.
The source said Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni agreed to the resolution presented on Friday following last-minute changes to the text.
"The various key ministers have voiced satisfaction at the amendments made over the last few hours," the source said. "For implementation by Israel, this now requires a cabinet vote. The idea is that the military offensive will continue until then."
On Friday, Olmert issued the order for an expanded ground operation after diplomatic efforts at the UN looked to be faltering.
The draft of the text which arrived from Lebanon on Friday is a significantly altered version of Thursday`s draft.
According to the modified document, Lebanon is opposed to a more robust contingent of UNIFIL troops and to granting UNIFIL the authority to enforce the cease-fire.
These points caused more concern to Israel than clause referring to Shaba Farms and the lack of border supervision against weapons smuggling.
Under these circumstances, the source said, Olmert decided to issue the order for the ground assault while continuing diplomatic negotiations in parallel.
Olmert`s spokesman, Asaf Shariv, said that the expanded incursion had already begun. He said that the cease-fire deal being worked out by the Security Council failed to meet Israel`s basic requirements, such as stationing a strong force of international combat troops in southern Lebanon once Israel withdraws.
"Yesterday we were very optimistic, but they (the Security Council) took the wrong turn," Shariv said.
Defense sources say that the cease-fire resolution is not ripe, adding that plans had been made for the IDF to push northwards. If significant progress is made on the diplomatic front, they said, the IDF would halt its advance.
Sources also said that restarting military operations could yield more favorable terms for Israel in the cease-fire resolution being discussed at the UN.
The prime minister updated a number of officials in the political echelon of his decision, including President Moshe Katsav, Knesset Speaker MK Dalia Itzik, government ministers, and MKs Benjamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman, Effi Eitam, and Tzachi Hanegbi.
Olmert thanked U.S. President George W. Bush Friday for his work on a UN Security Council resolution to stop violence between Israel and Hezbollah, the White House said in recounting the first direct talks between the two leaders since the fighting began.
The eight-minute phone call with Bush at his ranch in Texas was initiated by Olmert, said Frederick Jones, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.
"The president expressed his view that the crisis was provoked by Hezbollah with the support of Iran and Syria and that we need to ensure that the reach of the Lebanese government extends throughout the country," Jones said.
