TEL AVIV — Israel has slipped infantry units into Lebanon and plans to eventually have 5,000 soldiers there.
Israeli infantry and engineering units have been sent into Lebanon
for an assault on Hizbullah positions and strongholds near the Israeli
border. The soldiers were said to be destroying Hizbullah forts and
directing air strikes against suspected arsenals in southern Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported.
"This is the beginning of a major operation," a senior military
source said.
The source said the military planned to send more than 5,000 soldiers
into Lebanon for a rapid search-and-destroy mission. They said the operation
was based on an assessment that Israel would accept a United
Nations-arranged ceasefire in Lebanon by the end of the week.
Little information has been released by the military on Israeli ground
operations. On Monday, the military said infantry and engineering units
spent two days in the area of Rajar in search of Hizbullah positions. Rajar
is a border village divided by Israel and Lebanon.
The sources said the Israeli ground operation would seek to destroy
Hizbullah rocket arsenals and eliminate fighters in at least seven Shi'ite
villages in southeastern Lebanon. They said Hizbullah was believed to have
stored thousands of Katyusha-class rockets in the villages.
The combat forces slated for deployment in Lebanon have been serving in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The sources said they would be replaced by at
least three reserve battalions, comprised of units from artillery,
engineering and infantry.
So far, Israeli ground troops have begun the establishment of a
one-kilometer buffer zone inside Lebanon. The sources said army bulldozers
have destroyed all Hizbullah outposts along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
On Tuesday, the military reported two infiltration attempts by Hizbullah
over the previous few hours. A military spokesman said the two Hizbullah
squads were detected as they were approaching the Israeli border and were
struck.
Under the Israeli plan, the army would allow only Lebanese Army soldiers
or United Nations personnel in the buffer zone. The Israeli military has
determined that the Lebanese Army has been helping Hizbullah in rocket
attacks.
On Monday, the Israel Air Force targeted a Lebanese Army radar
installation in A-Nazriya in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, the Lebanese Army
reported that 10 of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli air attack on
Beirut.