LEBANON: Israeli troops continue withdrawal while Hizbollah buries its dead and the Lebanese plan to rebuild bombed bridges.

Israeli tanks were seen pulling back from positions in the border village of Addisa on Tuesday (August 15). The Israeli army plans to start pulling back from some forward positions in southern Lebanon and handing them over to U.N. troops within 48 hours, Israeli officials and Western diplomats said on Tuesday. A U.N. resolution ordering the "cessation of hostilities" last week stipulates the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese troops and a U.N. force of up to 15,000 peacekeepers, and the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from south Lebanon. The expedited timetable reflects growing Israeli concerns that its forces will become easy targets for Hizbollah attack and jeopardise a fragile truce that took effect at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday (August 14). Israeli government officials said plans call for the U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, to redeploy on Wednesday or Thursday (August 16/17) in some positions currently held by Israeli soldiers. UNIFIL already has some 2,000 troops on the ground. A U.N.-brokered ceasefire calls for adding as many as 13,000 more U.N. troops in southern Lebanon. Israel had sent an estimated 30,000 troops into southern Lebanon as part of its ground offensive, taking territory to the Litani river, some 20 km (12 miles) north of the Israeli border. Rescue workers recovered twelve bodies in the southern village of Sreefa, with many more believed to be still buried in the rubble. Rescue workers searched through buildings levelled in Israeli air raids as bulldozers scooped up piles of rubble. "The number of bodies trapped under the rubble is 31. We found four here, four from up there and four others from another location. The rest, as you can see, we are still trying to recover," said rescue worker Hassan Nazzal. About 1,110 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the conflict that began after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Israel says it killed 530 Hizbollah fighters. Hizbollah puts the toll at 80. Assassinated Lebanese ex prime minister Rafik Hariri's sister, Bahiya Hariri who is a parliament member, visited damaged bridges near Sidon city. Hariri said there are plans to start reconstruction of the bombed bridges in the area. "We will start the process to rebuild four bridges, starting from Rmaily, Awallia to the entrance of Sidon." says Hariri. Many of the bridges connecting Beirut to Sidon and Tyre had been destroyed by Israeli attacks. In Baalbek, hundreds of people marched through the streets carrying the body of a Hizbollah fighter killed in an air raid on Beirut's southern suburb. A Hizbollah fighter killed in confrontation with Israeli troops in the south was buried on Tuesday (August 15) in Tyre, south Lebanon. About 1,110 people in Lebanon and 156 Israelis have been killed. Israel, which launched an offensive after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, says it killed 530 Hizbollah fighters. Hizbollah puts the toll at 80.

ITN Source | August 16, 2006

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