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Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi overseeing a military drill in the Golan Heights on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Last update - 23:06 21/02/2007
Olmert: Lebanese army, UNIFIL are keeping Hezbollah in check
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and the Associated Press

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rebuffed on Wednesday assessments Hezbollah had recovered from last year's war with Israel, saying UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army were keeping the guerrilla group in check.

Olmert said that though the Shi'ite militia was rearming, it was finding it hard to regroup in its former border strongholds.

"When they try to surface now they are disarmed and arrested by the international force and the Lebanese force," Olmert told foreign reporters. He said it was now "almost impossible" for Hezbollah to function in its heartland, southern Lebanon.
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"I am not certain that they have any appetite to fight with Israel again," Olmert said.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that Israel may have to confront Hezbollah to halt the militant group's attempts to rearm after last summer's war in Lebanon.

Also Wednesday, Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at unmanned Israel Air Force drones near the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Wednesday, a Lebanese military spokesman said.

Ashkenazi said Israel delivered a tough blow to Hezbollah during the 34-day war, but the group, and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, are rapidly trying to refortify the militia.

"I think we all understand that ... he (Nasrallah) is not able to do the things that he could do before," Ashkenazi told reporters. "We see here and there smuggling and other things to bring weapons. We are following this and we apparently have to deal with this."

Ashkenazi made the comments while observing a military exercise on the Golan Heights.

Attending Wednesday's military exercise, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel was trying to avoid a further confrontation with Hezbollah.

"There's no doubt that this exercise ... doesn't demonstrate any intention to get involved in any confrontation or friction," Peretz said.

The Lebanese Army spokesman said that the IAF drones had violated Lebanese sovereignty, and posed a challenge to United Nations Resolution 1701, a reference to the UN Security Council resolution that ended the second Lebanon war in August.

The drones were not hit by the fire.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary for the Lebanese military in the absence of a formal statement.

Also Wednesday, IDF troops located and destroyed a cave used by Hezbollah beyond Israel's border fence, but still inside Israeli territory. The cave was situated northeast of a community in the Western Galilee.

No arms or explosives were discovered in the cave.

The Lebanese army and Lebanese news agencies reported that since Tuesday evening, IAF planes have increased their number of sorties over the country.

The planes flew over the western and central sectors of the country, they said, and made sonic booms.

After the summer's war, IAF warplanes continued flying over Lebanese territory in violation of the Security Council resolution.

The IDF defended the overflights by pointing out that Hezbollah too was violating the resolution by continuing to smuggle arms, and that the flights were necessary for intelligence gathering.

IAF planes have flown reconnaissance missions over Lebanon for years, despite protests from the Beirut government.

In November, the Lebanese army opened anti-aircraft fire on the planes, but did not hit their targets.

In recent weeks, the IAF greatly reduced the number of overflights, a development widely covered in the Lebanese media.

In Jerusalem, the Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the Lebanese statement.

On February 7, Lebanese troops fired at an IDF bulldozer after it allegedly crossed into south Lebanon. IDF troops fired back, but later said the bulldozer was still on the Israeli side of the UN-demarcated border.

After the war, the Lebanese army deployed some 16,000 troops in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah militants had previously been in control. The UN has sent more than 12,000 peacekeepers to the area to monitor the cease-fire.
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  1.   The Hizballah teachers should learn English! 13:37  |  Momo 21/02/07
  2.   what`s new? 13:37  |  Claudio Golzman 21/02/07
  3.   What advantage is there 14:57  |  Mark Lincoln 21/02/07
  4.   Attack Hezbollah in Lebanon and the rockets will fall on Israel 15:04  |  Clickfool 21/02/07
  5.   Lebanese Army grows testicle 15:07  |  Mark Lincoln 21/02/07
  6.   ISRAELI FLIGHTS: WHERE IS THE HYPOCRAT WEST??? 15:08  |  JACKAL 21/02/07
  7.   PROOF ABOUT HEZBOLLAH 15:39  |  ZAD ABDUL RAHMAN 21/02/07
  8.   Yo Clicky, & the outcome this time around??? 15:48  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  9.   israel should stop its violation 15:49  |  anna 21/02/07
  10.   #4, of course if Israel doesn`t overfly Hizbollah attacks 15:56  |  Danny - Israeli one 21/02/07
  11.   A question for Mark Lincoln in Houston 15:57  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  12.   #4: but rockets aren`t there, no? 15:57  |  Paul Freedman 21/02/07
  13.   If Israel started mass murder of Lebanese civilians again... 15:59  |  Stephen Murray 21/02/07
  14.   #3: Mark, Israel isn`t going there 16:04  |  Paul Freedman 21/02/07
  15.   #4 Clickfool 16:11  |  Itsik 21/02/07
  16.   to #3 Israel was not defeated,But did not win yet 16:13  |  Realist 21/02/07
  17.   Zad Abdul Rahaman 16:14  |  Itsik 21/02/07
  18.   The crackpots (or are they just bored unemployed?) 16:14  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  19.   #9 Anna 16:18  |  Itsik 21/02/07
  20.   Don`t just Tackle ,Defeat Destroy Hezbollah for good 16:20  |  marcel 21/02/07
  21.   # 13 Mass Murder?!! 16:23  |  Leor 21/02/07
  22.   jackal cut the crap 16:25  |  flashman 21/02/07
  23.   Go for it 16:26  |  Duderino 21/02/07
  24.   Caves 16:26  |  Mo 21/02/07
  25.   To #7 Zad 16:29  |  Mo 21/02/07
  26.   Re 7 and 17: WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE YOPU ARE 16:31  |  JACKAL 21/02/07
  27.   STEPHEN MURRAY #13 16:39  |  Brant 21/02/07
  28.   Yes well, Tyre is not a Hezbollah town 16:41  |  Marilyn 21/02/07
  29.   Lebanese should reclaim their country 16:41  |  Brod 21/02/07
  30.   Momo (#1), but let`s be reciprocal! 16:44  |  christoph 21/02/07
  31.   I think its simple. Stay in Israel and all is well 16:47  |  Guy From NYC 21/02/07
  32.   Time for another lesson 16:54  |  Bob 21/02/07
  33.   DUDERINO 16:54  |  Brant 21/02/07
  34.   A better world for all 16:56  |  MGB 21/02/07
  35.   #28 Marilyn the genious 17:02  |  Itsik 21/02/07
  36.   Guy from NYC 17:12  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  37.   #30 Christoph 17:13  |  Itsik 21/02/07
  38.   For `Bob` in Germany 17:15  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  39.   Anna Israel must not do d dirty work for the Christians and Druze 17:21  |  Neutral as Water 21/02/07
  40.   Lebanese Israeli Behind the Scenes.. 17:24  |  Ahmed 21/02/07
  41.   Stephen Murray: casualties of war happen. oh well. 17:25  |  Richard S 21/02/07
  42.   Hizbullah rearming. 17:27  |  JCT 21/02/07
  43.   Itsik & Christoph the liguists 17:32  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  44.   ATTACK LEBANON 17:35  |  kEVIN 21/02/07
  45.   Allow me to introduce myself my name is jov... 17:37  |  Gabriel 21/02/07
  46.   Ahmed I agree, and Nasrallah knows that, it is a shame he has no 17:42  |  Neutral as water 21/02/07
  47.   JCT why judge a population for one mad man? 17:49  |  Neutral as Water 21/02/07
  48.   For "Bob" in Germany 17:50  |  Peter 21/02/07
  49.   BOB #32 has it exacty right - and wrong 17:52  |  Elihu 21/02/07
  50.   So far, not enough blood shed this year,... 17:53  |  Fritz 21/02/07
  51.   Hezballah had to be DISARMED. - UNIFIL are afraid to disarm HEZB. 17:54  |  Vittorio 21/02/07
  52.   MARYLIN. THE AUSTRALIAN GIRL 17:54  |  charro 21/02/07
  53.   Itsik - grammar is what I really like! (I`m german, by the way) 17:58  |  christoph 21/02/07
  54.   Another complete strategic failure from Olmert 18:01  |  Pablo B 21/02/07
  55.   War and Peace 18:08  |  Victor Ivanov 21/02/07
  56.   Guy from NYC, how about evenhanded approach 18:12  |  topanga 21/02/07
  57.   Rufus (43) 18:12  |  christoph 21/02/07
  58.   #53 Christoph 18:14  |  Itsik 21/02/07
  59.   To 21,27...Mass Murder 18:15  |  Elie 21/02/07
  60.   PS: Itsik, but good English is difficult and beautiful 18:20  |  christoph 21/02/07
  61.   To Jackal 18:22  |  Elie 21/02/07
  62.   to anna 18:23  |  jean marie 21/02/07
  63.   #Pablo B 18:25  |  Joe Cool 21/02/07
  64.   Elie blame Nasrallah he started the war, not Israel 18:30  |  Neutral as water 21/02/07
  65.   To Stephen Murray #13 18:37  |  Passerby 21/02/07
  66.   Time for Lebanon to be provided with an air defence 18:38  |  Mayanna 21/02/07
  67.   Just a thought for Pablo B 18:43  |  Rufus 21/02/07
  68.   To Brod, the Phenician 18:43  |  Elie 21/02/07
  69.   Another lunatic... 18:47  |  Sandra 21/02/07
  70.   Click-Fool :we are prepared for!!!!!!!! 18:47  |  Claudio Golzman 21/02/07
  71.   To JCT, about Geneva Convention 18:55  |  Elie