Last update - 00:00 23/09/2006
Lebanese soldiers deploy in 2 villages along border with Israel
By The Associated Press
Lebanese army troops deployed Saturday in two villages along the Lebanese-Israeli border, taking up positions that had recently been vacated by the Israel Defense Forces, security officials said.
Lebanese troops began deploying along the border Aug. 18, just days after a United Nations cease-fire went into effect. Some 10,000 Lebanese soldiers of a force planned to reach 15,000 have deployed in the south of the country.
About 300 soldiers deployed Saturday in the area south of the southern coastal town of Naqoura, known as Ras Naqoura, and in the village of Labbouneh, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Both areas are about 100 meters (yards) north of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel.
IDF troops withdrew from the area south of Naqoura on Friday, and on
Saturday, the Israeli military said it transferred the area to UN
peacekeepers in south Lebanon. IDF troops also withdrew from Meiss al-Jabal in the eastern sector of south Lebanon.
The commander of UN troops in south Lebanon, Maj.-Gen. Alain Pelligrini, had said Friday he expects Israeli troops to complete their withdrawal from Lebanon by the end of the month.
"We are almost there, and with the assistance of UNIFIL, Lebanese armed forces will very soon be able to take control of the whole South Lebanon including the areas along the Blue Line," he said in a statement.