VARIOUS: ISRAELI TROOPS POUR OUT OF SOUTH LEBANON AS WITHDRAWAL CONTINUES

Record ID: 399145

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI TROOPS POUR OUT OF SOUTH LEBANON AS WITHDRAWAL CONTINUES
  • Date: 25th May 2000
  • Summary: FATMA GATE, ISRAELI-LEBANESE BORDER (MAY 24, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SLV NIGHT SHOTS ISRAELI TANKS CROSSING INTO ISRAEL FROM LEBANON WITH ISRAELI FLAG 0.12 2. SCU SOLDIERS ON TANK HOLDING ISRAELI FLAG AND GIVING THUMBS UP SIGN; ISRAELI TANK WITH ISREALI FLAG ON IT CROSSING BORDER; ISRAELI ARMY JEEPS CROSSING BORDER; SOLDIERS WAVING AS THEY CROSS BORDER ON
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FATMA GATE, ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER/NEAR KARKOUM, EASTERN SECTOR, LEBANON
  • City:
  • Country: Lebanon Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA1L2A3CZ6S8UBE1RB0U8CDR5QX
  • Story Text: Israeli troops have been poured out of south Lebanon,
    crossing into Israel under cover of darkness as part of an
    accelerated
    withdrawal ending 22 years of occupation.

    A subdued crowd of soldiers watched as a steady stream
    of tanks and armoured personnel carriers loaded with their
    comrades poured through the Fatma Gate crossing from Lebanon
    early on Wednesday (May 24), their headlights glaring along the
    largely dark frontier.

    The armoured cars kicked up dust as they rumbled across the
    border, one of them bearing a blue-and-white Israeli flag.

    The military said soldiers had pulled out of more
    outposts, their planned July 7 departure hastened by several
    weeks in the face of advancing Hizbollah guerrillas.

    The army said it would issue a statement when the
    withdrawal was completed.

    Many of the soldiers were not born when Israeli forces
    first occupied south Lebanon in 1978.

    A glow could be seen across the border in Lebanon in the
    eastern sector, coming from the Israeli army base at Karkoum.

    It was blown up by the retreating Israelis so Hizbollah could
    not occupy it.

    Israeli public opinion turned against the Lebanon presence
    in the face of military losses inflicted by Hizbollah.

    Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government decided to accelerate
    the pullout on Monday after Israels allies in the South
    Lebanon
    Army (SLA) militia abandoned their posts to Hizbollah, which
    is backed by Iran and Syria.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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