Israel announced Wednesday that it will lift the air and naval blockade on Lebanon at 6 P.M. Thursday. The blockade has been in place since Hezbollah's raid into Israel and the abduction of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on July 12.

The decision made by the political echelon was not supported by the IDF, which insisted that the blockade is a means of pressuring the Lebanese government and international community to take action to free the two soldiers. They also said the blockade is leverage for implementation of other critical aspects of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 such as the call to disarm Hezbollah and the enforcement of an arms embargo on the transfer of weapons to the organization from Syria.

Lebanese Transportation Minister Mohammed Safadi welcomed Wednesday's announcement, and said that immediately following the lifting of the blockade, air and sea services to Lebanon would be resumed.

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A few hours after the decision was made, a senior General Staff source said the IDF recommended that the blockade remain in place. The source added that the IDF had recommended that reconnaissance and other intelligence-gathering overflights of Lebanese airspace continue.

Resolution 1701 calls on Israel to abstain from such overflights.

The IDF insists that the intelligence flights are essential for security, and blames the Lebanese side for not meeting its obligations as delineated in the UN decision.

The same source said that despite the lifting of the blockade, Israel still holds a number of "assets" that could serve as bargaining chips to expedite the prisoners' release. Among them are the overflights, the presence of IDF ground forces in southern Lebanon, and the fact that Israel holds five Hezbollah prisoners.

Ten other Lebanese arrested during the war on suspicion of being members of Hezbollah have been released following questioning.

The General Staff source said that the air blockade has been nearly absolute, "even though, here and there, it is possible to land an aircraft without our authorization," while the naval siege has been very effective.

However, the source admitted that it was impossible to block the Lebanon-Syria border, since the political leadership has decided to end air attacks against convoys suspected of carrying arms to Hezbollah.

He also said that Israel has no intelligence suggesting that arms smuggling has continued from Syria since the cease-fire went into effect on August 14.

Western diplomats have been critical in recent days of Israel's policy of continuing the blockade over Lebanon. They noted that it was clear that Israel was using the blockade as a means to pressure the international community to implement a tight oversight regime along the Lebanon-Syria border.

"It is not clear why Israel claims that it is possible for aircraft taking off from Amman to land in Beirut, and does not enable a similar regime for aircraft taking off from Frankfurt or any other European airport," diplomats said.

Israel maintains that security checks from Amman meet its stringent requirements.

United Nations sources in New York said Wednesday that French President Jacques Chirac had promised to dispatch a warship to Lebanon that will participate in the enforcement of the arms embargo on Hezbollah.