 |
The
Israeli government says it will lift its air and
sea blockade of Lebanon on Thursday evening. The
announcement was made on Wednesday... following
international pressure to stop the embargo
because of a current cease-fire. |
BEIJING, Sept. 7 -- The Israeli government says
it will lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon on
Thursday evening. The announcement was made on
Wednesday... following international pressure to stop
the embargo because of a current cease-fire.
International forces will replace the Israelis at
command positions over Lebanese seaports and airports.
Israeli Government Spokesperson Miri Eisin said,
tomorrow at 6pm Israel will stop the naval blockade with
the arrival of naval forces from the international
community. They will arrive gradually and at the same
time we will stop the aerial blockade of flights into
Lebanon with the arrival of German forces who will be in
the airport implementing the embargo supervising mainly
the cargo which arrives into Beirut International
Airport.
U.N. officials said they expected Germany to lead
a contingent of naval ships that will likely to include
vessels from other countries. They said French, Italian,
Greek and British naval ships would form an interim
deployment.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered the
end of the blockade.
Shortly after the announcement, Lebanon said it
had formally asked Annan to authorize the deployment of
German naval ships to monitor the Lebanese coast.
In a sign the end of the embargo was imminent,
British Airways said it was resuming direct flights to
Beirut after the British government gave assurances it
would be safe to do so.
Israel imposed the blockade shortly after a
34-day war against the Lebanese guerrilla group
Hezbollah erupted on July 12th. Israel said the blockade
was necessary to prevent new arms shipments to Hezbollah
guerrillas.
The announcement was an important breakthrough --
proving that Israel and Lebanon could work with the help
of mediators to reach deals on contentious issues.
