A meeting, among Israel, Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force
in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south
Lebanon, ended in disagreement Tuesday evening, Israeli Ynet news
reported on its website edition.
The disagreement came as there is still uncertainty about the
schedule of a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, though the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had initially planned to pull out its
remaining several hundred troops by the end of the week, said the
report.
"The talks didn't fall apart, but there are still some
disagreements regarding coordination and the authorities that
should be exercised by the UNIFIL and the Lebanese army," an
Israeli army official was quoted as saying.
A source from the Israeli army said that the meeting, which took
place at the UNIFIL headquarters in the Lebanese town of Naqoura
was a "failure" and that the IDF threatened to keep its soldiers
inside Lebanon for as long as it took for the UNIFIL to take its
job seriously.
Earlier on Tuesday, the UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Alain
Pellegrini said in a statement after meeting senior Israeli and
Lebanese army officers that the Israeli troops would be out of
Lebanon by the end of September.
Israel occupied a narrow border land in south Lebanon during the
34-day-long Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
A senior military source said Monday night that Israel had so
far handed over around 90 percent of the territory they captured to
the UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army.
Several hundred IDF soldiers, the officer said, were still
present inside Lebanon although only several hundred meters away
from the Blue Line, the United Nations-demarcated border between
Lebanon and Israel.
Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended on Aug. 14 under UN Resolution
1701, which called for Israel's withdrawal and authorized the
expansion of the UN force in Lebanon to 15,000 to help Lebanese
government take control of its southern territory which borders
Israel.
Under the deal, Israel should transfer control of its positions
in southern Lebanon to the UN force, which will then hand them over
to the Lebanese army.
(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)
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