Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is opposed to the deployment of international forces in Lebanon in an effort to end bloodshed in the region, senior officials said yesterday, countering a call by Britain and the UN.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had earlier yesterday called for the deployment of international forces to help stop the fighting between Israel and Lebanese militants that has continued unabated since July 12. At least 180 Lebanese and 24 Israelis have been killed.
"The blunt reality is that this violence is not going to stop unless we create the conditions for the cessation of violence," Blair said after talks with Annan on the sidelines of the G8 summit in St Petersburg, Russia. "The only way is if we have a deployment of international forces that can stop bombardment coming into Israel."
Olmert, however, doesn't think the presence of international forces would help the situation in Lebanon, and instead wants Lebanese forces to take control of the area of the border with Israel and wants the Hezbollah militia disarmed, senior officials close to the prime minister said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the matter with the press.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said yesterday that his country "would welcome a more energetic and decisive international effort to bring about immediate and full implementation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1680, which call for the disarmament of Hezbollah."
Regev did not say Israel would welcome an international troop deployment in Lebanon.
In Brussels, the EU said it was considering the deployment of a peacekeeping force to Lebanon to try and stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
"It could be that the European Union -- or the United Nations -- might have a peacekeeping role," the Finnish foreign minister said.
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