June Friday 16-2000:

Introduction

Lieutenant General Dr. Bashar Al-Assad received Thursday Hizbullah Secretary General H.E. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accompanied by hundreds of the Islamic Resistance (IR) fighters in order to offer their condolences. “The fighters reaffirmed their fidelity to the symbol of resistance and liberation the late Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad”.

However, the UN operation to verify “Israel’s” pullout from Lebanon was suspended for the day Thursday after “Israeli” troops fired in the direction of UN and Lebanese Army officers.

Lebanon’s President Emile Lahoud criticized those whom he said were in a rush to wrap up verification of the “Israeli” withdrawal from South Lebanon. “We waited 22 years for the liberation of our land. How can they conceive of not being able to wait a few days to ensure the withdrawal”, he said.

Hizbullah offers condolences to son of late Syrian president…(1)

“ The son and designated successor of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad received Thursday Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah and his fighters who offered their condolences, state television said.

The television showed dozens of Hizbullah fighters in gray-black uniforms marching single file in front of Bashar al-Assad, who received them in his home town, Qerdaha, in northwestern Syria.

The fighters were not carrying weapons but they did sport headbands that said "we are all the resistance."

"The Muslim theologians and the fighters reaffirmed their fidelity to the symbol of resistance and liberation (Hafez al-Assad), and their attachment to the battle and resistance to liberate all of occupied south Lebanon," the official SANA news agency said.

Bashar al-Assad "reiterated that Syria was going to maintain its patriotic, national positions, and defend the nation's rights until all occupied Arab land is liberated," SANA said.

Hizbullah conducted most of the attacks on “Israeli” occupation forces in southern Lebanon. “Israel” withdrew May 24 from the Lebanese zone it had occupied for 18 years.

Lebanon also wants to recover the Shibaa farms which is on a section of land where Lebanon, Syria and “Israel” come together. The area was captured by “Israel” from Syria in the 1967 Arab-”Israeli” war.

Bashar al-Assad said in remarks published June 13 in the London-based, Arabic-language Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Syria backed Lebanon's claim to the Shibaa farms.

The interview took place several days before his father's death on Saturday.

“Israelis” fire at UN team on border
Jewish state ‘regrets’ incident, verification suspended…(2)

“Shots were fired at the United Nations withdrawal verification team on Thursday as “Israeli” troops maintained their grip on Lebanese territory at the flashpoint village of Ghajar.
The border inspection was immediately suspended for the day and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was notified and a complaint lodged with the “Israeli” Army.
The UN and Lebanese Army officers have spent the past week inching along the border to confirm that all “Israeli” forces have pulled back to behind the line of withdrawal. The line was created by UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and is supposed to be based on the original 1923 Anglo-French boundary.
Thursday’s program began with verifying the location of Boundary Pillar 38, the last border marker along the original mandate frontier between Lebanon and Palestine. Then the team would proceed along the less well-defined border between Lebanon and “Israeli”-occupied Syria.
Boundary Pillar 38 is located on a small hill southeast of Metulla. The team was unable to reach the summit but the spot was marked by a lone “Israeli” soldier.
At first glance, the soldier appeared to have staged a one-man occupation of Lebanon because the border fence and patrol road was sited 200 meters behind him. But the “Israelis” had allowed the fence to dip slightly into “Israel” to suit the topography of the area.
Moving on from No. 38, the team inspected the location of an “Israeli” outpost at a crossing just 1 kilometer west of the Hasbani bridge which marks the border between Lebanon, Syria and “Israel”. The desolate boulder-strewn landscape was made more ominous by minefields, surrounded by rusting coils of barbed wire, which flanked the last 200 meters of a potholed road leading to the border crossing.
A UNIFIL officer explained that the outpost was one of the three disputed areas between Lebanon and the United Nations. The others are at Rmeish in the western sector and Misgav Am above Odaisseh.
The outpost ­ some 100 meters in length consisting of bulldozed earth ramparts fronted with steel-mesh anti-missile fences stacked 3-meters high ­ was supposed to be 70 meters further south, according to the Lebanese, the officer said.
Peeking above the ramparts was an M163 Vulcan gatling gun, which has become the “Israeli” Army’s principle defense against Katyusha rockets. The gun’s radar locks onto an incoming rocket and then unleashes a fearsome 3,000 rounds a minute from six 20mm rotating barrels.
Having finished business at the crossing, the convoy of 11 UN vehicles, accompanied by a growing number of press, headed toward the village of Arab Loweizeh, an untidy sprawl of cinder block homes housing a few hundred Bedouins.
Arab Loweizeh lies on the west bank of the Hasbani River and affords a clear view of the Wazzani springs at the bottom of a 50-meter gorge as well as the white-washed houses of Ghajar on the opposite bank. Dozens of people lined up on the edge of the village to watch the UN team at work 500 meters on the other side of the gorge.
The border follows the deepest part of the Hasbani until it veers up the eastern bank and bisects Ghajar just south of the Wazzani springs. This places the plentiful water source firmly within Lebanon.
However, perched on a slope above the springs, in what is now sovereign Lebanese territory, were two “Israeli” soldiers. One of them sat on the ground nonchalantly eating an ice cream while his comrade erected a tent of camouflage netting. They were some 200 meters north of the withdrawal line.
“The line is correct,” acknowledged General Amin Hoteit, the head of the Lebanese Army delegation. “But there are two “Israelis” north of the line. We consider this a violation of the withdrawal.”
Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, UNIFIL’s deputy commander, nodded. “Yes, we see that.”
As the team digested this development, a disembodied voice suddenly floated across the gorge from Ghajar.
“My name is Salman Khatib. I’m the mukhtar of Ghajar,” the voice echoed from the walls of the gorge.
“We hope the UN won’t abide by this line which will cut our village in two,” Khatib continued. “We hope the UN won’t separate mother from child and husband from wife.”
The passionate plea wafting across the divide contrasted with the business-like demeanor of the UN team. When the loudhailer fell silent, the team went back to the vehicles, with the Abbassieh crossing on the other side of Ghajar next on the agenda.
Last week, the “Israelis” bulldozed a position beside the Abbassieh gate in preparation to retire to the withdrawal line a few hundred meters further south.
In the days following the demolition of the post, a handful of soldiers, including a sniper, remained hidden in the bulldozed earth, their rifles trained on the gate to deter over-eager Lebanese from entering the area.
But when the UN team arrived at the gate, no “Israeli” soldiers were in view. Two civilians attempted to push the gate open, allowing the UN inspectors to verify that the “Israelis” really had pulled back. But the gate resisted their efforts and three reporters squeezed through an opening in the fence.
Sreenan and Hoteit, flanked by a crowd of reporters, were about to follow when five rifle shots were fired toward the gate. At least one round ricocheted off the road just meters from the UN personnel.
The source of fire could not be spotted, leading the team to speculate that a soldier with a sniper’s rifle was hidden in the bulldozed earth of the outpost’s demolished ramparts.
“This is the first time that we’ve come under fire … “Israel” is lying, it has not pulled out (fully) from Lebanon and it continues to occupy Lebanese land,” a furious Hoteit said, ordering an immediate halt to the operation for the day.
The “Israeli” Army later apologized for the shooting, claiming a patrol had shot at “trespassers.”
“A security patrol ... identified a number of citizens close to a UN force that had entered “Israeli” territory. The force fired warning shots at the trespassers,” the army said.
Yet the reporters and UN personnel were on Lebanese territory as defined by the line of withdrawal and it was the “Israelis” who were the trespassers.
UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel confirmed that the “Israelis” had apologized.
“They have given assurances that it will not happen again,” he said.

Frustrated Lahoud takes tough line on nagging delays in verifying withdrawal…(3)

“Increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of the border verification process and perceived attempts to allow “Israel” to hold on to some Lebanese territory, President Emile Lahoud rejected on Thursday a UN reference line being used to confirm that “Israel’s” withdrawal was complete.
“Lebanon will not compromise on its rights with regard to a total “Israeli” withdrawal from all its territories, and rejects any attempt to alter the internationally-recognized and documented border that was demarcated in 1923 and reconfirmed in the (1949) Armistice Agreement,” Lahoud told the Cabinet during an extraordinary meeting on Thursday.
He spoke after five shots fired by the “Israelis” across the border suspended the work of a joint UN-Lebanese mission probing the extent of “Israel’s” withdrawal.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is awaiting the results of the verification to confirm whether “Israel” has indeed ended its 22-year occupation of Lebanon, telephoned Lahoud to explain that incident was “unintentional,” according to a senior political source.
But the source indicated that the president was increasingly skeptical of “Israel’s” intentions.
“One day they fire to suspend the work at the border, another day they claim the area is riddled with mines and therefore our team cannot approach. How can you verify anything under such conditions?” the source said.
Asked whether Lahoud’s remarks constituted a shift from “reservations” over the UN line to “a flat rejection,” the source said: “The president has indeed adopted a firmer stand.”
Said Lahoud: “Lebanon is basing its position on Resolution 425 and the UN Secretary-General’s report of May 22 which called for verifying the “Israeli” withdrawal to the internationally recognized border, and not for confirming it according to a fictitious line that does not correspond to the true border.”
He added: “We want a verification based on legitimate rights and the facts on the ground. Others want a quick verification under the pretext of time constraints ...
“We’ve waited 22 years to liberate our land. Is it logical that we should not wait a few more days to confirm the withdrawal?”
The president said Lebanon did not wish to quibble with the United Nations, “but at the same time insists that “Israel” not be given a clean slate in a way that does not comply with Resolution 425 and the secretary-general’s report and does not fulfill a withdrawal to the international border, as this would entail (unspecified) consequences.”
The government had voiced reservations over the so-called “withdrawal line” which UN envoy, Terje-Roed Larsen, drew last month.
However, Lahoud’s latest statement suggested that Lebanon was raising the stakes ahead of Annan’s visit to Beirut on Monday, even though the UN chief was still likely to send his report to the Security Council on the extent of the withdrawal before heading to the Middle East.
Also on Thursday, the Cabinet ordered the formation of a 1,000-strong force of army and Internal Security personnel which will be deployed in the areas vacated by “Israel”.
Information Minister Anwar Khalil said the force will be headed by an ISF officer and will have its headquarters in Marjeyoun and a sector command in Bint Jbeil.
When asked how soon he expected the deployment, Khalil said that depended on “the developments on the ground,” without being specific.

Lebanon ready to 'temporarily' embrace border village threatened with division…(4)

“ Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said Thursday he is prepared "for humanitarian reasons" to temporarily take control of an entire village that is threatened with being split between Lebanon and “Israel”-occupied territory.

The village of Ghajar lies on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights, which “Israel” captured from Syria in 1967.

Hence, part of the village is in Syrian territory annexed by “Israel” following the 1967 war and would remain under “Israeli” control until such time as “Israel” may return the Golan Heights to Syria in a future peace deal.

Negotiations between “Israel” and Syria were suspended indefinitely on January 10, and there is no immediate prospect of their resuming.

Ghajar's residents adopted “Israeli” nationality but consider themselves Syrians.

They reject UN plans to divide the village and have threatened to use force to stop any such move.

Lebanese state television Thursday quoted Lahoud as saying that Lebanon should "temporarily incorporate, for humanitarian reasons" the entire village.

According to a Lebanese government source, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special Middle East envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, favors leaving the village entirely under “Israeli” control for humanitarian reasons.

The Lebanese official, who requested anonymity, said that, for the same reason, the village should remain entirely under Lebanese control.

The television said Lahoud had adopted his position in response to a question on the subject from Annan.

It also said the "“Israeli” enemy extended the Syrian village of Ghajar into Lebanese territory."

Earlier this week, village leaders said they would appeal to Annan to intervene when he visits “Israel” soon.

364 “Israeli”-allied militiamen questioned on collaboration…(5)

A total of 364 former members of “Israel’s” now-defunct proxy militia, were questioned on collaboration allegations on Thursday, paving the way for their trials.
Trials are due to resume on Friday after Monday and Wednesday sessions were canceled due to the mourning period for Syrian President Hafez Assad ­ who died on Saturday ­ and the celebration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday on Wednesday.
So far, 105 collaborators have been sentenced to terms mostly ranging between 12 and 18 months. Around 1,700 militiamen are in custody.

Footnotes:

1- AFP, 15-6-2000.

2- The Daily Star, 16-6-2000.

3- Same source.

4- AFP, 15-6-2000.

5- The Daily Star, 16-6-2000.