SYRIA/JORDAN: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan renews his call for Israel to withdrawl from Lebanon

Record ID: 279615

  • Title: SYRIA/JORDAN: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan renews his call for Israel to withdrawl from Lebanon
  • Date: 31st August 2006
  • Summary: (W3) DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AUGUST 31, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN ARRIVING IN SYRIA WALKING INTO BUILDING(4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA3OU051CRWOQADCAV13HMJSX9B
  • Story Text: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who arrived in Syria on Thursday (August 31), renewed his calls for Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon swiftly and to withdraw fully from the country as soon as 5,000 U.N. peacekeepers are in the south.
    Annan, travelled to Syria after talks in Jordan, is trying to bolster a truce ushered in by a U.N. resolution that halted a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.
    Earlier Annan held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib on the shores of the Dead Sea are expected to have covered Israeli-Palestinian violence as well as the Lebanon truce.
    "You've heard the minister talk and the King call for the lifting of the blockade, a reasonable request. Here is a country that has been through a war and entering the period of recovery and reconstruction. It will need to bring in lots of material, it will need to get its commercial activities going. With that sort of blockade lots of businessmen and lots of people are going to be held back. And I think it is important that that is lifted and not seen as collective punishment of the Lebanese people and Israel itself has said it has no quarrel with the Lebanese people," Annan said at a joint news conference with Jordanian foreign minister Abdelelah Al-Khatib.
    Annan has had little to show for his mission so far, but a senior Israeli political source said Israel would discuss freeing Lebanese prisoners for two soldiers held by Hizbollah if the two are handed over to the Lebanese government.
    The soldiers' capture in a Hizbollah raid on July 12 sparked the 34-day war. The Shi'ite guerrillas said at the outset it wanted to swap the Israelis for Lebanese prisoners.
    "I have had discussions in Lebanon and in Israel and I think measured steps are being taken that I hope sooner rather than later will lead to positive developments on this issue," Annan said responding to a reporters question.
    Any negotiations would be with the Beirut government, via a mediator, not with Hizbollah, the source said. Israel, which has previously said the soldiers must be freed unconditionally, conveyed its stance to Annan on Wednesday (August 30), the source added.
    Annan has said he is trying to speed the arrival of extra UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, where the first big contingent of 800 Italian troops is due on Friday.
    "This will be a truly international force and of course Europe has provided a large number of the forces and as I have indicted is the backbone of the force. But we will be bringing in troops from other regions, there will be Islamic troops on the ground, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey has also offered, once it has gone through its parliamentary procedure and others will come. So we will have an international force will troops coming from both Western and Islamic countries," Annan said.
    Annan also said a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops was an important measure to stabilise the ceasefire.
    "I expect and I did make this clear to the Israeli authorities, that when the International forces have reached 5000 and are deploying to the South with the Lebanese. It is time for them to withdraw and withdraw completely from southern Lebanon. That withdrawal is important because it will help stabilise the ceasefire," he added.
    German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said he expected Germany to contribute more than 1,200 troops to the U.N. force.
    The German newspaper Handelsblatt cited government sources as saying that more than 1,500 German troops and two naval frigates could be sent. The plan would be to patrol the entire Lebanese coast to prevent arms smuggling, it said.
    Jordan initially criticised Hizbollah's role in touching off the war in Lebanon, but King Abdullah later said Israel's offensive had turned the guerrillas into heroes for many Arabs and had boosted militants fighting "aggression and occupation".
    Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah Al-Khatib said the use of power will not improve the situation urging for a peaceful solution.
    "And the most important lesson is that power does not improve the situation in the region. The use of power can make this situation only worse. And a peace solution between Palestinians and the Israeli's and the Arab countries and the Israeli's is the only way out of the situation," Al-Khatib said.
    Jordan, which has a peace treaty with Israel and is a close ally of the United States, is worried by the rise of Iranian power since the Iraq war and by the absence of an even-handed U.S. drive to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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