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Israeli soldiers ride in a truck after returning from southern Lebanon in northern Israel Monday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners August 14, 2006 |
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Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect Monday at 8 a.m. after a month of warfare that killed more than 900 people, devastated much of south Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters.
Half an hour after the cease-fire took hold, Israeli warplanes -- a regular fixture in Lebanese skies during the monthlong war -- were absent across huge swaths of the country, including the Bekaa Valley, where airstrikes hit about an hour before.
Few people ventured out of their homes in south Lebanon, unsure that the cease-fire would hold. But traffic appeared busier in Beirut and other cities than in previous days.
Some of the exhausted Israeli forces pulled out of southern Lebanon early Monday, but were being replaced by fresh troops, and an army official said "there is no withdrawal" from positions seized in the last few days.
In the final hours before the truce, Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people, and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.
The air strikes continued until 15 minutes before the truce went into force, destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's Al-Manar television southeast of Beirut.
The Israeli army said in a statement the military was told not to initiate any action after 8 a.m., but "the forces will do everything to prevent being hit."
The military also would maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, army officials said.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave the order Sunday to halt firing as of Monday morning, his spokesman Asaf Shariv said. "If someone fires at us we will fire back," he said.
Isaac Herzog, a senior minister in the Israeli Cabinet, said it was unlikely all fighting would be silenced immediately.
"Experience teaches us that after that a process begins of phased relaxation," in the fighting, he said.
Lebanon said nearly 791 people were killed since July 12. Israel said 116 soldiers and 39 civilians were killed in fighting or from Hezbollah rockets.
A United Nations force that now has 2,000 troops in south Lebanon is due to be boosted to 15,000 soldiers, and together with a 15,000-man Lebanese army contingent is to gradually take control of the contested border area.
The deployment of the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers was a cornerstone of the cease-fire resolution passed Friday by the U.N. Security Council. The forces are supposed to keep Hezbollah fighters out of a 18-mile zone between the border and Lebanon's Litani River.
France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, signaled willingness Saturday to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are still needed to hammer out the force's makeup and mandate and it was uncertain when it would reach full force.
Early Monday, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on central Beirut, warning it will retaliate against any attack launched on it from Lebanon.
One leaflet said Hezbollah serves the interests of its Iranian and Syrian patrons and has "brought destruction, Lebanon against the State of Israel." Addressed to Lebanon's citizens, it said, "Will you be able to pay this price again?"
Hezbollah also distributed leaflets on Monday congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the 34-day war with Israel.
"Congratulations to you on the big victory, with the support of God, the mujahedeen (holy warriors) and your patience," it read.
The flyers also warned people not to touch any suspicious objects, which could be unexploded ordnance.
One of Monday's raids hit an office of the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General-Command just outside the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon. One person, a garbage collector, was killed and three civilians who live near the office were wounded, security officials said.
Israel's Cabinet accepted the cease-fire deal Sunday. But within hours the hard-won agreement was already in doubt when the Lebanese Cabinet indefinitely postponed a crucial meeting dealing with plans to send its army into Hezbollah's stronghold in south Lebanon.
Lebanese media reported that the Cabinet, which approved the cease-fire deal unanimously Saturday, was sharply divided over demands for Hezbollah to surrender its weapons in south Lebanon. That disagreement was believed to have led to the cancellation of Sunday's meeting.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Israel was uncertain the truce would hold. "I believe that it has a chance. I can't say for certain," he said moments before it went into force.
Peres said 500 Hezbollah fighters had been killed and 500 wounded, taking nearly half of its estimated 2,500-man first-line force out of action.
"Today Hezbollah is in a much worse situation then it was when the war opened," Peres said. "It is licking its wounds."
Though Israel claimed to have knocked out much of its firepower, the Shiite militia poured more than 250 rockets on northern Israel Sunday, the worst barrage in a single day since the fighting started. The rockets killed one man, wounded 53 people and ignited huge fires in the port city of Haifa.
Israel launched its major offensive on Friday as the Security Council haggled over the wording of its resolution, seeking to place troops on the Litani River before the truce.
The offensive sent the conflict into frenzied battle as both sides fought to hold ground that it would control until the international force takes over. Israel said 31 soldiers were killed in weekend combat.
The AP contributed to this report.
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