The US called for the quick deployment of an expanded UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and said a new UN resolution may be needed later to focus on disarming Hezbollah militants and enforcing an arms embargo.
Noting the fragility of the Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire, US Ambassador John Bolton on Monday made clear that the top priority for the US is to put an additional 3,500 soldiers on the ground within the next week and then quickly increase the force to 15,000 troops, joining an equal number of Lebanese troops.
Italy offered to replace France as head of the force after Paris disappointed top UN and US officials by making only a small pledge of 200 new troops. By contrast, Italy has indicated it would be prepared to send 3,000 soldiers. If Rome follows through, other European countries might be more willing to commit troops, as the US has been urging.
PHOTO: AP
Bolton said the issue of disarming Hezbollah, key to establishing lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel, will likely have to be addressed "in due course" in a new resolution.
Hezbollah is already required to disarm under a September 2004 UN resolution, and council diplomats are certain to look carefully at exactly what a new resolution would do. If it authorizes the UN force to disarm the guerrillas, there would likely be strong opposition from those who believe that disarmament should be carried out only as a result of an agreement between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government.
But in any event, getting boots on the ground is key, said Bolton's spokesman Richard Grenell.
"It's premature to talk about the timing of a second resolution at this point," he said. "Our priority right now is to get a robust international force on the ground."
While several Muslim nations have pledged troops to the new force, there have been no major pledges from Europe. The US wants broad European participation to ensure that the UN contingent is balanced and broadly acceptable to both the Israelis and Lebanese.
The EU's Peace and Security Committee added the issue of contributions to the force, known as UNIFIL, to its agenda last Wednesday. But one European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, cautioned against any major new announcements.
France, which leads the current 2,000-strong force, had been expected to make a significant new contribution and continue its command.
But French President Jacques Chirac, wary of getting involved without a clear UN mandate to use firepower if necessary, announced last week that France would immediately add only 200 combat engineers to its 200 troops already serving in UNIFIL, though he did not rule out a future increase. France said it was willing to continue leading the force until February.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Monday he told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Italy is willing to command the UN force.
"It is a decision that Kofi Annan will take at the end of broad consultations," Prodi said, according to the Italian news agencies ANSA and Apcom.
The US and France sponsored the ceasefire resolution that was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council and led to the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah last Monday. The resolution also authorized deployment of an expanded UN force, and US and French military experts played key roles in drafting its rules of engagement and concept of operations.
Several potential contributors of troops, however, have expressed concern about the rules of engagement -- and exactly what troops would be required to do, especially regarding the disarming of Hezbollah. French diplomats, for example, have made clear that the current rules do not call for arms to be taken from Hezbollah fighters.
The Security Council received a briefing on Monday on the latest situation in Lebanon and efforts by the UN peacekeeping department to put together an expanded force rapidly.
Asked afterward how confident he was that the UN can come up with the numbers it needs, Bolton replied, "I think it's still a work in progress. I think that's the best I can say."
"I don't think there's any doubt in our mind of the urgency of the deployment of the full, enhanced UNIFIL as soon as possible," he said.
He said countries are reluctant to provide peacekeepers because "it's obviously a very dangerous situation."
"The ceasefire is quite fragile," Bolton said.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS