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Lebanon vows to stand firm against an Israeli ground invasion
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| 21 July 2006 |
By Dave Hartwell
Lebanonıs defence minister, Elias Murr, said on 21 July that the Lebanese army would resist any ground invasion of the country by Israel. The Lebanese armed forces have so far stood on the sidelines of the violence between Israel and Hizbullah but Murr's comments, made amid reports of increased Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, will fuel fears that the conflict could develop further.
The Lebanese army is not considered a major force in the region and is certainly no match for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF); there are doubts that it could even perform as effectively as Hizbullahıs armed militia.
Nevertheless, the commitment of Lebanese troops to the fighting would mark a serious escalation of the conflict and pose a major dilemma for the Israelis, whose disagreement is ostensibly with Hizbullah rather than Lebanon.
The IDF is maintaining and increasing the tempo of its operations with the aim of inflicting as much damage on Hizbullah as possible before diplomatic pressure forces a change in strategy, possibly within the next two weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needs quick and tangible results in order to justify the expenditure of money and lives during the campaign; Lebanon's commitment of troops to the fighting, whatever their combat effectiveness, would serve to complicate this requirement.