U.S. asks Israel to limit actions in Lebanon - Haaretz

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Thu., September 20, 2007 ,

Israel Time: 01:48 (EST+7)

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U.S. asks Israel to limit actions in Lebanon

By Barak Ravid

The United States has asked Israel to curtail its activities in Lebanon until the presidential elections there, scheduled to take place on September 25.

American officials conveyed to their Israeli counterparts that Israel should avoid any steps that may affect the domestic situation in Lebanon, referring specifically to overflights of Lebanese airspace.

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In talks with senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem two weeks ago, David Welch, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, stressed that the elections are a domestic Lebanese matter, and that it is important to avoid any actions that may influence the elections.

A senior Israeli official said yesterday that "in any case, Israel had no intention of intervening in Lebanon's elections."

During the regular contacts between U.S. and Israeli officials, the Americans regularly raise the Lebanon question and point to a list of issues they consider to be problematic.

The Americans insist Israel curtail the overflights of Lebanon carried out by its air force before the election, and ideally would like to see these cease altogether.

Political sources in Jerusalem said Tuesday that Lebanese media reported "supersonic booms" over Sidon and Tyre, which they attributed to Israeli air force jets.

In his meetings, Welch told his counterparts that efforts must be made to bolster the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, suggesting that any Israeli operations may bolster Siniora's rivals, the pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon.

Another State Department official, Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Danin, told his Israeli counterparts in recent weeks that if Israel could provide the Lebanese government with data from launch-control computers used in the firing of cluster bombs in the summer 2006, this would be considered a major gain for the Siniora government.

The data could be used to locate areas over which the cluster bomb munitions were dispersed, as part of demining operations in southern Lebanon.

Nonetheless, the U.S. and Israel are not in agreement on whether any steps they take can bolster Siniora.

However, the U.S. considers a victory of the pro-Siniora camp to be the first concrete step to defeating the pro-Syrian camp in Lebanon.

In talks with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday, visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the subject of the Lebanese elections and said that the U.S. wanted to see "clean elections."

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