SECURITY COUNCIL PASSES CEASE-FIRE RESOLUTION
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Friday that calls for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and authorizes the deployment of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon as Israel withdraws. The draft, adopted unanimously, appeared to offer the best chance yet for peace after more than four weeks of war in the Middle East. It was the first significant action by the Security Council, the most powerful U.N. body, to address the crisis....
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endorsed the resolution late Friday, after a day of dramatic brinksmanship including a threat to expand the ground war in Lebanon. But Israeli officials said Israel would not halt fighting until Israel’s Cabinet has approved the cease-fire deal in its weekly meeting Sunday. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora also assured U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that his country backed the resolution. Olmert will recommend that his government approve the deal in its upcoming meeting on Sunday, said Gideon Meir, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry....
The Security Council resolution authorizes the deployment of the 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support the Lebanese army's deployment to the region "as Israel withdraws." The resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, asks the U.N. force to monitor a full cessation of hostilities and help Lebanese forces gain full control over an area that has previously been under de facto control of Hezbollah militias. The text says the force's mandate will include several elements: monitoring the cessation of hostilities, accompanying Lebanese troops as they deploy and as Israel withdraws, and ensuring humanitarian access to the area.
About 2,000 U.N. troops and observers are now stationed in Lebanon, as they have been since 1978. The draft would authorize an increase to a total of 15,000 troops.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said the resolution gives a U.N. force in Lebanon an enhanced mandate to help coordinate the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops. But it would ultimately be deployed under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter — which Israel has previously opposed. That decision was a key concession to Lebanon and Hezbollah. Israel wanted the force deployed under the Charter’s Chapter 7, which would give the troops more robust rules of engagement. “You’ll find that the mandate for the force is very robust,” Jones-Parry said.
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