President Bush yesterday announced $180 million in new humanitarian aid to Lebanon and urged quick deployment of an expanded international peacekeeping force to provide a security buffer between that nation and Israel, though he said the task of disarming Hezbollah will be left to the Lebanese government.
The president said it is “urgent” that the military force of up to 15,000 international troops be deployed, and said past U.N. resolutions to try to address the problems on the Israel-Lebanon border failed because the international community didn’t follow through on disarming Hezbollah.
Italy offered yesterday to command the international force, according to several news agencies, even as the tenuous Aug. 14 cease-fire was tested by Israeli reports that soldiers had shot two Hezbollah guerrillas. Lebanese forces will also be deployed to the nation’s southern areas.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continued to be battered at home by criticism the government was indecisive during the 34-day war that began when Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
Mr. Bush said the United Nations will pass another resolution with instructions on the international force’s mission, and a key question is whether the troops will be limited to separating Israelis and Hezbollah, or whether they will be given the task of actively disarming Hezbollah.
Asked whether he would insist that the international force disarm Hezbollah, Mr. Bush did not answer directly, saying instead that the force would create a “security cushion.” He seemed to leave the decision of disarming up to Hezbollah and Lebanon.
“Hopefully, over time, Hezbollah will disarm,” he said, adding that Lebanon should not allow an armed faction to exist within its borders.
“The reality is, in order for Lebanon to succeed — and we want Lebanon’s democracy to succeed — the Lebanese government’s eventually going to have to deal with Hezbollah,” he said.
Hezbollah has won public support among many in the Middle East by moving quickly to rebuild devastated parts of Lebanon, and the Bush administration is now trying to push its own reconstruction efforts ahead.
“Our nation is wasting no time in helping the people of Lebanon. In other words, we’re acting before the [international peacekeeping] force gets in there,” Mr. Bush said at an hourlong press conference, in which he also pledged to remain in Iraq through the end of his presidency.
“We’ve been on the ground in Beirut for weeks,” Mr. Bush said, adding that the U.S. has already distributed about $25 million in aid, or half of the previous commitment made in July.
Yesterday’s new aid brings the total commitment to $230 million and includes $42 million to help Lebanon’s military prepare for deployment in southern Lebanon, money to rebuild schools in time for the school year and a response team to help clean up an oil spill off the country’s coast.
Mr. Bush said he also will ask Congress to extend loan guarantees to Israel to help that nation rebuild.
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