Hizbullah taking over, SLA in disarray as Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Hizbullah is rapidly taking over Israel's zone of troop deployment in southern Lebanon.

So far, Israeli military sources said, Hizbullah has taken control of 20 percent of the so-called Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon. This, as the Shi'ite militia is arresting SLA soldiers left behind by the Israeli withdrawal.

At least one SLA battalion -- the 70th -- has collapsed. About 150 SLA soldiers have defected to Hizbullah or the Syrian-backed Amal militia over the last two days. Five senior SLA officers fled to Israel, military sources said, as heavy weapons held by the SLA in southwestern Lebanon was destroyed to prevent it from being captured by Hizbullah.

At the same time, SLA members and their families are flocking to the Israeli border appealing for asylum. By Monday afternoon, scores of Lebanese were at the border trying to enter the Jewish state.

Senior Israeli officials raised the prospect of a massacre of SLA members by Hizbullah and other Lebanese groups. "I am scared that soon they will be massacred," Health Minister Shlomo Ben-Izri said on Monday. "We can't leave the Lebanese border while they are massacring each other."

Israeli troops did not stop Hizbullah from taking over such Shi'ite villages as Misr Jabr, Markaba and Huna in southern Lebanon. United Nations troops deployed outside the communities insisted that the Lebanese returning to their homes accompanied by militiamen leave their vehicles outside the villages.

Israeli helicopters and jets continued to attack Hizbullah targets. Lebanese sources said two civilians were killed near the village of Huleh. Prime Minister Ehud Barak again warned Hizbullah and Syria against attacking Israeli communities. "Our reaction will be very harsh and I don't advise any source in the region from testing us," Barak said.

The break-up of the SLA comes as the Israeli military is pressing for its withdrawal to be completed by June 1. Barak denied a report that he had ordered the army to pull out by the beginning of next month.

Military sources said Druze and Christians in the SLA will not defect. "The phrase that SLA is collapsing is both exaggerated and premature," Israeli deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said.