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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (192543)	7/21/2006 3:54:51 PM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Israeli troops mass on Lebanon border Lebanese president warns his army ready for any ground invasion Friday, July 21, 2006; Posted: 3:26 p.m. EDT (19:26 GMT) BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Thousands of Israeli troops are massing on the Lebanese border as Lebanon's president warned Friday his army is "ready to defend" the country should Israel launch a full-scale ground invasion. The Israel Defense Forces said it was calling up to 6,000 troops for reinforcements along the border as leaflets were dropped urging Lebanese residents to leave their homes and move north of the Litani River 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Israeli border. About 1,000 Israeli troops have so far been sent across the border for what commanders call pinpoint operations against Hezbollah strongholds, sources said. The majority of attacks in the 10-day conflict launched when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in Israel have come from the air. (See map of area) Israeli Gen. Shuki Shachar declined to say whether a ground invasion has been authorized but said the army is evaluating the need on a minute-by-minute basis. "All the power is going in the direction of Lebanon. Some are active, reserve units. ... All reinforcements are going to the direction of Lebanon," said Shachar, deputy commander of the Israeli military's Northern Command. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Friday she would travel to Israel and the West Bank next week to address the crisis and would attend a meeting of diplomats concentrating on the situation in Lebanon. (Full story) Any invasion threatens to pull Lebanon's army into the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud told CNN the Lebanese army is "ready to defend" his country's territory. "Of course, the army is going to defend its land," Lahoud said. While the army "cannot be strong enough to be against Israel on the frontier," he said, "inside Lebanon, they can do a lot." "We are not going to let anybody take our land. We are not going to let them come back and take it," he added. At least 261 people have been killed in Lebanon and 582 wounded, internal security sources say, though Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Wednesday that more than 300 Lebanese had died. He said about 1,000 people had been hurt. Israel's army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz said Friday that nearly 100 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in the Israeli offensive. Fifteen civilians in Israel and 19 soldiers have died in attacks and fighting, the IDF said. (Watch grief-stricken father kiss his sons goodbye in their grave -- 2:15) Israel held a buffer zone in Lebanese territory north of its border during much of the 1980s and 1990s, ending its occupation in 2000. This buffer covered about half as much land as the area from the border up to the Litani River. The United States and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The group, which has claimed responsibility for terrorist acts, also operates an extensive network of social services in Lebanon, and its political wing holds seats in the Lebanese parliament.