Olmert: Fighting will only stop when world force arrives

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today that Israel’s three-week-old offensive in Lebanon will stop only once a robust international peacekeeping force is in place in southern Lebanon.

In an interview in his Jerusalem office, Olmert also said the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas must be unconditional – signalling Israel does not favour a prisoner swap.