Israel to End Blockade of Lebanon

JERUSALEM, Sept. 6 -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday that Israel will lift its eight-week-old air and sea blockade of Lebanon on Thursday evening, removing what diplomats have called the chief obstacle to the country's recovery from a devastating war between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

Olmert made the decision after receiving assurances from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that international troops were ready to begin sea patrols and airport security checks and inspections designed to prevent Hezbollah from restocking its arms supply, according to a statement issued by his office.

Israel waged a 33-day war against the Shiite Muslim militia and continued to enforce its blockade after a U.N.-brokered cease-fire brought an end to the fighting on Aug. 14. Israeli officials had said the military would maintain the blockade until enough of the 15,000-member multinational force to be deployed in Lebanon under the cease-fire resolution was in place to enforce an arms embargo against Hezbollah.

But Annan recently stepped up diplomatic pressure on Israel to end the blockade, calling it "a humiliation" for Lebanon during his recent trip to the region. Olmert's statement said Annan pledged that Italian, British, French and Greek forces would begin sea patrols until the German navy arrives in approximately two weeks. German officials will also monitor Beirut's international airport, the statement said.

"We have enough confidence today to allow us to take this step," said Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman. "There are enough forces there now to enforce the arms embargo against Hezbollah. We're moving out so the Lebanese and the international forces can move in."

The announcement came after several Middle Eastern commercial airlines resumed regular flights into Beirut's airport, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes during the war, and a British carrier threatened to run the blockade. BMED, a British Airways franchise, announced Wednesday that it would "break the air embargo" and land in Beirut without first receiving Israeli permission, as the other airlines have been required to do. Its first such flight landed Wednesday night.

Across Lebanon's political spectrum, the blockade had stirred anger as an infringement on the government's already undermined national sovereignty. The parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, organized a sit-in by parliament members that began Saturday afternoon and was to last until the blockade was lifted. Members from all political parties applauded his move and, in shifts of 10, members are spending the night in the parliament building to dramatize their protest.

The blockade has also impeded the recovery of Lebanon's war-battered economy, which is based largely on its role as a regional air and sea shipping hub and a magnet for rich tourists from the Persian Gulf oil countries.

The war left an estimated 850 to 1,200 Lebanese dead, most of them civilians, and ravaged Hezbollah's strongholds in southern Lebanon and the crowded suburbs of south Beirut. The Israeli military said 117 soldiers were killed in combat and 41 civilians were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire before the cease-fire took effect.

The resolution calls for the deployment of 15,000 U.N.-backed peacekeepers in southern Lebanon alongside an equal number of Lebanese troops, who will have the authority to prevent Hezbollah from replenishing its arsenal. Israeli officials say Hezbollah's arms supply comes from Iran and Syria.

Officials in Lebanon said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora insisted that Israel lift the blockade before his government would request U.N. help in guarding Lebanon's air, sea and land frontiers. They said Siniora would then go through the United Nations to ask France, Greece and Italy to take up the temporary assignment of policing shipping lanes into Beirut's port and flights to and from its international airport.

Germany has volunteered to shoulder the responsibility for the long term. But German officials predicted it would take weeks for their ships to equip and arrive off Lebanon. In contrast, France and Italy already have warships in the region, and Greece lies just a short distance away.

The arrangements had to go through the United Nations, officials said, because Hezbollah refused to welcome the European ships directly, saying Lebanon would be handing over its sovereignty to NATO.

Germany also has offered technical help and training for Lebanese military and security personnel monitoring traffic across the land border with Syria, the main conduit in the past for Hezbollah arms arriving from Iran. Lebanon has accepted the offer but refused an Israeli demand that foreign personnel be part of the border-monitoring operation.

In any case, one official involved in the negotiations said, Hezbollah is not concerned about getting resupplied because of the long tradition of smuggling over little-used paths along the long, sparsely populated frontier.

Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the issue "a wild card" and reiterated Israel's demand that multinational forces be deployed along the border with Syria. Without providing details, Regev said, "We have reason to believe that will happen."

In another reflection of Lebanon's anger, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh told reporters in Cairo that Lebanon would break the blockade "with our might" if it was not lifted. Salloukh, a Hezbollah sympathizer, did not specify what he meant, and his comment was seen more as bravura than a practical threat.

Former Gen. Michel Aoun, a right-wing political figure, drew sustained applause when he announced the news of Israel's decision during a speech to his followers. "The regrettable thing is that it was on orders from Olmert," he added with a chuckle, and loud boos rose from the audience.

Cody reported from Beirut.