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May 30, 2003/Iyar 28 5763, Vol. 55, No. 40
Hezbollah keeps border volatile
MICHAEL J. JORDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - Three years ago this week, Israel fulfilled a key U.N. resolution by withdrawing its last troops from southern Lebanon, bringing an end to a costly 22-year occupation.
But Security Council Resolution 425 didn't stop there.
It also required the Lebanese government to re-establish its authority in the south and have its forces take control from Hezbollah, the Syrian- and Iranian-backed militia that made Israel's occupation so costly.
Three years later, Lebanon has yet to fulfill its end of the bargain: Hezbollah, which has fortified its position with thousands of missiles trained on Israeli cities, continues to strike at Israel's northern border.
It also claims that parts of Lebanon remain occupied, a charge the United Nations has investigated and rejected.
Israel says it has recorded 100 "terrorist attacks" by Hezbollah through December 2002 - reportedly killing eight soldiers and five civilians and injuring 50 people - with "dozens of incidents since then," according to Arye Mekel, Israel's deputy permanent representative to the U.N.
Yet in contrast to the period when Israel's violations of Resolution 425 brought repeated censure, the in-ternational community has little to say about Lebanon's flouting of its obligations.
Hezbollah and Lebanon may soon be back in the spotlight as the Bush administration refocuses attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Washington has warned Syria and Iran to curb support for Hezbollah, which last week was caught sending a boat to the Palestinian territories with weapons and instruc-tions for making suicide bombings more deadly.
Some media had speculated that Lebanon might send 2,000 more troops to bolster the 1,000 stationed in the south since Israel's with-drawal.
Instead, Lebanese Presi-dent Emile Lahoud praised Hezbollah as a legitimate political party and resistance movement against Israel - and said Lebanon would not take responsibility for the border region.
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