U.N. Chief Criticizes Israel, Hezbollah

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, center, flanked by Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, right, and Hezbollah legislator Ali Ammar, left, walks past a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, during a tour of the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. Annan on Monday demanded that Hezbollah release two captured Israeli soldiers to the international Red Cross, pressing both sides to fulfill their commitments to solidify the two-week-old cease-fire in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil) (Mahmoud Tawil - AP)

It was not known what Annan would discuss with the leaders of Syria and Iran, but it would be extremely difficult for Lebanon to disarm the Shiite guerrillas of Hezbollah without the agreement and participation of those two governments.

Israel responded quickly and negatively to Annan's call for an end to the blockade, which is intended to keep arms from being shipped to Hezbollah.

An official in the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated that the blockade will remain until the international force takes up positions along Lebanon's borders and entry points. He said Hezbollah continues to try to smuggle weapons into the country.

"Once the international forces are fully in place and they're able to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, there will be no need for the air and naval blockade," said the official, David Baker.

Although aimed at Hezbollah arms shipments, the blockade also is hindering shipments of food, fuel and other goods to Lebanon.

Annan has said the Lebanese army could handle policing the Syrian border on its own and it would be unprecedented for a peacekeeping force to be deployed along a border shared by countries that have not been at war. Syrian President Bashar Assad has said the deployment of international troops would be considered a "hostile" act.

In Israel, Olmert announced an inquiry into the war, hoping to dispel criticism among Israelis that the army and government bungled the campaign. But he ignored demands for an independent probe with the authority to dismiss top officials.

His decision was likely to enrage critics who say Olmert and other top officials should be the focus of the investigation, not overseeing it.

Israel has said a resolution of the conflict must include the release of the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah militants in a cross-border raid that triggered the conflict last month.

Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, said that unless the issue of the two soldiers was resolved, "the whole thing is of little significance."

"Our sovereignty has been infringed and if this resolution does not make that good, then we still have this problem," she said in Germany.

Livni's talks in Germany included discussion of efforts to get the soldiers released, German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said. Germany has mediated past prisoner exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel.