Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that the Israeli army would
not be restrained in its operations against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas,
Israel's best-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
"The Israeli army has all the time and flexibility to carry out its mission,"
Olmert was quoted by the newspaper as saying at a weekly cabinet meeting.
But he refused to elaborate on whether Israel will launch a large-scale
ground incursion into Lebanon.
"We need not let the entire world know what is being done here and what is
not. Whoever is concerned or wants to know what is happening will be informed in
due course," said Olmert. Israel has massed thousands of troops as well as tanks
and armored vehicles along the border with Lebanon and it has not ruled out a
massive ground operation into Lebanon. Regarding civilian casualties in Lebanon,
Olmert said, "There is a possibility that the population that cooperates with
Hezbollah will get hurt although they are not on our target list. They are just
more exposed to the strikes."
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said at the meeting that
current Israeli ground operations conducted by small units of forces in Lebanon
were limited in scale, adding that they did not constitute an invasion of
Lebanon.
In addition, Peretz also left open the door of diplomacy to solve the Lebanon
crisis.
"The (military) achievements are beginning to leave their markson Hezbollah,
but diplomatic efforts must be promoted along military actions in order to
complete the task," Peretz said. In addition, the defense minister said that
efforts to destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure along the border would continue,
adding that the Israeli army had the capacity of pushing Hezbollah rockets, both
long-range and short-range, away from the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israel has been battling along its northern border withHezbollah guerillas
for 12 days in an effort to bring back its twosoldiers taken hostage by
Hezbollah and remove the Shiite groupfrom the border area.
More than 300 Lebanese and 37 Israelis have been killed in the violence.
