Barak will not quit over Lebanon war report

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak today said he would not quit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government over its handling of the 2006 Lebanon war – but would stay on to redress problems in the military that the fighting exposed.

Barak’s announcement at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting removed any immediate threat to the survival of Olmert’s government as it pursues its declared goal of signing a peace treaty with the Palestinians this year.