UNIFIL chief calls IDF Lebanon exit 'significant,' but incomplete

[tocqueville]

By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent, AP and Haaretz Service

The leader of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in Lebanon hailed as "significant progress" the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from southern Lebanon on Sunday, but said the pullout would not be complete until IDF soldiers left the divided border village of Ghajar.

Israel withdrew the last of its troops from most of southern Lebanon early Sunday, fulfilling a key condition of the UN cease-fire that ended a month-long war with Hezbollah guerrillas.

Some soldiers remained in the Ghajar area, where agreement on security arrangements has not yet been reached.

"Significant progress has been achieved today," Major General Alain Pellegrini, commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said in a statement.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/769319.html

[Englander]

1. Israeli Army vacates almost all of South

The Israeli Army withdrew its soldiers from most of South Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday morning, except for a small border village, as part of a handover to the Lebanese Army and UN peacekeepers under a cease-fire deal that ended a war with Hizbullah fighters.

Crossing the frontier without fanfare before sunrise, Israeli troops padlocked the border gate at Zarit, close to where Hizbullah fighters seized two soldiers on July 12 before the conflict with Israel erupted.

In the darkness of the early morning, the headlights of Israeli tanks lit up clouds of dust as they crossed back into Israel past coils of barbed wire.

"The Israeli Army has withdrawn its troops from the south, except from the area around the village of Ghajar," United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) commander Major General Alain Pellegrini said in a statement.

"I expect they will leave this area in the course of the week, thus completing the withdrawal in line with Resolution 1701."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=75846