Last update - 00:00 13/09/2006
Annan: Israel making 'significant progress' in Lebanon withdrawal
By News Agencies
Israel has made "significant progress" in the gradual withdrawal of its forces from south Lebanon in the month since the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution to end the fighting there, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report Tuesday.
The report said both Israel and Hezbollah had mostly complied with the cease-fire that was called for in the resolution, aside from one major raid by Israel on Aug. 19 and several minor violations.
The UN Security Council had asked Annan to report back in a month after the resolution was adopted. In it he said Israel has withdrawn from about two-thirds of the area it occupied in south Lebanon in an attempt to oust Hezbollah militants from the area, and had promised to leave entirely by the time Lebanon deploys 15,000 troops and the UN sends 5,000 peacekeepers to the border region.
Annan said the process would be finished in the coming weeks. He did not say how many Israel Defense Forces troops remained in south Lebanon.
"On the ground, significant progress continues to be made as regards the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the deployment of the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces)," Annan wrote in the report.
On other issues, Annan said Israeli maps provided to the UN peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon about its cluster bombing of the area were not detailed enough to be of any use.
Annan also pressed the leaders of Syria and Lebanon on Tuesday to quickly launch negotiations to establish diplomatic ties between the two Middle East neighbors.
Annan told the UN Security Council he expected Damascus and Beirut to agree to "the early initiation" of efforts to establish full diplomatic relations after both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told him they were ready to meet with each other "at any time" to start the process.