MIDDLE EAST: Israel lifted its eight-week sea blockade of Lebanon yesterday, handing control of the Lebanese coastline to an international naval task force.
The end of the maritime embargo, a day after Israel lifted its air blockade, had been a key Lebanese demand to help speed reconstruction of bridges, homes, roads and factories devastated during a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah.
"The blockade has ended," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Maj-Gen Alain Pellegrini, head of Unifil peacekeepers in Lebanon, said the Italian-led naval force was operational and had taken over coastal patrols from Israeli vessels.
"The blockade has seriously undermined the Lebanese economy and it is high time for it to end so as to allow the people to get back to their businesses," Maj-Gen Pellegrini said in a statement.
Many countries have criticised the embargo, which Israel said was aimed at stopping Hizbullah from re-arming, but which Lebanon saw as collective punishment.
A Unifil spokesman said four Italian ships were currently supporting the Lebanese navy in monitoring Lebanon's territorial waters.
France said it will supply two frigates, complete with helicopters, and a transport vessel for the surveillance force.
A Greek frigate carrying about 200 sailors left Cyprus for Lebanon yesterday to join the force, a Greek defence ministry source said.
The Italian, French and Greek vessels are expected to patrol the coast until a German-led naval contingent can take over in line with a Lebanese request to the United Nations.
Unifil said it had already established a naval operations centre, and a team of security experts will start work in Lebanon today to assess what technical assistance the UN can offer at air and sea ports and border crossings.
Israel ended an air embargo on Lebanon on Thursday, with flights to and from Beirut resuming.
Italy said it would soon deploy more troops to southern Lebanon that along with the dispatch of other European soldiers would comprise an "effective ground force", opening the way for all Israeli troops to leave.
Israel has been gradually withdrawing forces from Lebanon since the August 14th ceasefire. Yesterday its troops detained four armed men in the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
Lebanese security sources said five men were detained, all of them unarmed.
"I think in a week the multinational force would be at 5,000 people," Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema said in Tel Aviv. "The French and Spanish are deploying, and it will be possible to have an agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the next 10 days." Israeli media have said the pull-out was likely to finish by the start of the Jewish new year, which begins on September 22nd.
In another area touched upon by the UN resolution, Mr Olmert said Israel would be willing to discuss the disputed Shebaa Farms if Lebanon disarms Hizbullah, Israeli media reported.
The Shebaa Farms is a small patch of land claimed by Lebanon, but occupied by Israel since it captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister said yesterday it was time the Jewish state talked to the Palestinians, adding no conditions should be put on meeting President Mahmoud Abbas.
But Tzipi Livni said that unless militants in the Gaza Strip freed an Israeli soldier captured in a cross-border raid on June 25th, the moderate Abbas should expect nothing from talks - such as a release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Her comments were a softening of remarks by vice-prime minister Shimon Peres, who said this week a summit between prime minister Ehud Olmert and Mr Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, would take place only if the soldier was freed first. - (Reuters)