Israel hesitates under U.S. pressure

Israel hesitates under U.S. pressure

Reuters news agency reports citing several Israeli sources including Army Radio that Israel plans to allow more time for U.S.-led diplomatic efforts. A member of the Israeli Security Council and Tourism Minister Yitzhak Herzog said: "There is a certain diplomatic process under way. We can allow a little more time to see if there's a possibility for a diplomatic process." 

However, he went on to make it clear that Israel would go ahead with its ground offensive if the talks failed.

Reuters quotes Israel Radio as reporting that a senior political source said Israel was pessimistic about chances the diplomatic efforts would succeed, adding "these efforts could collapse within hours”.

Israeli Defense Forces currently operate within around 8 km of the border but Wednesday's decision could bring the army to the Litani River, some 20 km into Lebanon.

Rocket attacks on Israel and fighting in Lebanon continue

Tel Aviv daily Ha’aretz reports that the barrage of Katyushas continued Thursday morning with reports of at least 90 rockets landing in cities and towns throughout northern Israel, killing a three-year-old boy and his mother. Eleven other people were wounded in the attack.

One day after 15 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in south Lebanon, IDF troops moved into Marjayoun and Alhayam - two Lebanese villages in the eastern sector north of Metulla, said to be Hizbullah hideouts - and took up positions inside the towns.

Hizbullah fired anti-tank missiles towards IDF forces, who responded by returning fire, Ha’aretz reports.

Meantime, The Jerusalem Post reports that the six-hour security meeting that took place on Wednesday showed cracks in the Center-Left coalition government of Israel. Former and present Defense Ministers, Mofaz and Peretz, traded accusations concerning the tactics and manner in which the war is conducted. Shaul Mofaz, now Transportation minister, was IDF Chief of Staff and subsequently Defense Minister during the years after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, now seen by many in Israel as a move that enabled the arming and strengthening of Hezbollah that led to the current crisis.

“A delicate, long-term dance”

Foreign policy analyst and veteran Middle East reporter Borivoje Erdeljan told B92 that neither peace nor a cease-fire are in sight. “The fighting has not stopped, there is a kind of balance act involving the situation on the ground and the UN Security Council, where a fight over a resolution to stop the fighting is taking place. Israel uses its military might to try and secure that several words are included in the text of that resolution, and Arabs oppose that. This is a delicate dance that can end in many ways, and will certainly be long-term”, Erdeljan concluded.

The war between Israel and Hezbollah started 30 days ago, when Hezbollah members crossed the Israeli-Lebanese border, killing eight soldiers and kidnapping two.