BEIRUT, Lebanon – Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire.
The makings of a compromise, however, emerged from all-day meetings in Beirut, according to senior officials involved in the negotiations, and the Lebanese prime minister scheduled a Cabinet session today for what he hoped would be formal approval of the deal.
Hezbollah indicated it would be willing to pull back its fighters and weapons in exchange for a promise from the Lebanese army not to probe too carefully for underground bunkers and weapons caches, the officials said.
Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, had insisted that any disarmament of his militia – even in the border area – should be handled in longer-term discussions within the Lebanese government, according to government ministers.
But the Lebanese army, backed by key political leaders, refused to send troops into the just-calmed battle zone until Hezbollah’s missiles, rockets and other weapons were taken north of the Litani River, the ministers said.
At stake in the standoff was implementation of a crucial provision of the U.N. Security Council cease-fire that went into effect Monday. The accord called for quick deployment of 15,000 Lebanese army troops south of the Litani River along the border with Israel. The United Nations hopes that 3,500 well-equipped troops can deploy to Lebanon within two weeks.
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and France were due in the Lebanese capital today, and it was widely believed they would work out details of assembling a 15,000-strong international force.
On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers killed three armed men who approached their positions in southern Lebanon, the military said. But there were no reports of rockets being fired or sustained clashes despite the existence of Hezbollah and Israeli positions at relatively close distances.
The Israeli army also said its forces killed a senior Hezbollah leader, Sajed Dawayer, just before the U.N. cease-fire took effect.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
