Lebanon warns Palestinians over inciting Israel

Lebanon’s defence minister has said he is certain Hezbollah would not break the cease-fire but warned rogue Palestinian groups of harsh measures and a traitor’s fate if they incited Israeli retaliation by launching rockets into the Jewish state.

Also, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a Sunni Muslim, toured the devastated Hezbollah stronghold in Shiite south Beirut yesterday and decried the destruction wrought by Israeli bombs as “crimes against humanity".

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite and Hezbollah backer, stood at the prime minister’s side and said they spoke with one voice.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would name a panel to investigate government and military conduct of the conflict, in the face of criticism that authorities prosecuted a messy war with an unclear outcome and waffled over key decisions.

A day after Israel conducted a pre-dawn commando raid deep into the Bekaa Valley, prompting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to declare the Israelis in violation of the Security Council cease-fire resolution, there were no reports of fresh incidents and the truce held into a seventh day.

Residents in the mountains east of Beirut, however, reported continued Israeli overflights. And the Lebanese army issued a statement accusing Israel of not abiding by the cease-fire because of the airspace violations, which were a prelude the Bekaa Valley commando raid.

Defence Minister Elias Murr’s strong warning to rogue rocket teams indicated concern that Syrian-backed Palestinian militants might try to restart the fighting by drawing retaliation from Israel. He insisted Hezbollah would hold its fire.

“We consider that when the resistance (Hezbollah) is committed not to fire rockets, then any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel to provide a pretext (for Israel) to strike,” he said.

On Saturday, Murr had threatened to stop the deployment of the army in south Lebanon, a key demand of the UN cease-fire resolution, after the Israeli helicopter-borne commando raid near the town of Boudai in the foothills of the Mount Lebanon range on the west side of the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel said it launched the raid to interdict Iranian weapons shipments for Hezbollah as they crossed into the country from Syria. One Israeli officer was killed and two soldiers were wounded, one seriously.

Townspeople in Boudai said the Israel raid began at 3am and that 300 residents grabbed their guns and fought at the side of 15 Hezbollah guerrillas for 90 minutes before the commandos retreated and were flown back to Israel. Residents said there were no casualties on the Lebanese side.

Lebanon has started deploying 15,000 soldiers to the south, putting a government force in the region for the first time in four decades, as part of the cease-fire requirements.

They are to be joined by an equal force of international peacekeepers, but wrangling among countries expected to send troops has so far delayed assembly of the force. The flare-up underlined concern about the fragility of the cease-fire and the UN pleaded for nations to send troops.

Further complicating efforts to form an international force, Olmert yesterday said Israel would not accept the participation of peacekeepers from countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh – Muslim countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel – are among the only countries to have offered front-line troops for the expanded force, which is to police the border.

Murr, meanwhile, did not return to his threat to halt the Lebanese deployment when he spoke yesterday, apparently satisfied by Annan’s declaration that Israel had violated the cease-fire and warned against future such actions.