The Times on Hezbollah’s Volte-Face
Here’s a report from The Times (London) on Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm. [Extract]
A senior Lebanese government official told The Times that Hezbollah was refusing to give up any of its weapons or to move out of an agreed “arms-free zone” south of the Litani river. As he spoke, 30,000 Israeli troops waged a fierce ground offensive against Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon and Israeli jets bombed more than 50 towns and villages as well as Beirut.
A scheduled Cabinet meeting in Beirut to finalise plans to deploy 15,000 Lebanese troops to police the UN-mandated buffer zone was postponed after the two Hezbollah ministers in the coalition Government threatened to boycott it.
“Hezbollah changed its position, going back on what was agreed unanimously during Saturday’s Cabinet meeting to support the ceasefire proposals and immediately deploy the Lebanese Army,” the senior Lebanese official said.
Interestingly, no one at The Times appears to be reading the official Iranian statements.
