U.S. & World

Threats, Accusations Strain Mideast Cease-Fire

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CBS News) ― The uneasy truce between Lebanon and Israel faced further erosion Sunday as leaders from both countries leveled threats and accusations a day after Israeli commandos raided Lebanon despite agreeing to a cease-fire agreement last week.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday said Israel would not accept the presence of peacekeepers in Lebanon from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, officials said.

Earlier Sunday, while standing in the midst of the rubble of south Beirut, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora called the Israeli bombing campaign "a crime against humanity."

Saniora toured south Beirut accompanied by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah backer. The area, a Hezbollah stronghold, bore the brunt of Israeli airstrikes during the month-long fighting between Israel and the Shiite militia.

"What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed," Saniora told reporters. "There is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel's hatred."

As for Olmert's decision, it complicated efforts by the United Nations to form a 15,000-strong peacekeeping force to help enforce a truce that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.

The decision was made at a meeting of Olmert's inner Security Cabinet, meeting participants said.

"We will not agree that countries which do not have relations with Israel will participate in the multinational force," Olmert was quoted as saying by one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh — Muslim countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel — are among the only countries to have offered front-line troops for the expanded force.

Europe, which had been expected to lead the force, has been slow to make any firm troop commitments. U.N. officials have called on Europe to offer more troops to balance commitments from Muslim countries.

On Saturday, Israeli commandos raided a Hezbollah stronghold deep in Lebanon, engaging in a fierce gunbattle, and the Lebanese government threatened to halt further troop deployments in protest as the 6-day-old U.N.-brokered cease-fire was put to a critical test.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the operation a violation of the U.N. truce.

Israel said Saturday's raid was launched to stop arms smuggling from Iran and Syria to the militant Shiite fighters left one Israeli officer dead and two soldiers wounded.

There were no signs of further clashes, but the flare-up underlined worries about the fragility of the cease-fire as the U.N. pleaded for nations to send troops to an international force in southern Lebanon that is to separate Israeli and Hezbollah fighters.

There's speculation that Israel hoped to kidnap a senior Hezbollah official to use as a bargaining chip to win the release of two captured Israeli soldiers, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger from Jerusalem.

In response, Saniora accused Israel of a "flagrant violation of the cessation of hostilities announced by the Security Council." Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr threatened to halt deployment of Lebanese troops if the United Nations did not intervene against Israel.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah is continuing to earn respect from Lebanese citizens by giving them cash for home repairs, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey. Hezbollah hopes to respond to the thousands of claimants within two days.

The broad outlines of the cease-fire called on Hezbollah to halt all military activity and for Israel to stop offensive operations. It gave Israel the right to respond if attacked. The commando raid took place far from Israeli troops in the deep south of Lebanon.

Block by block, Hezbollah surveyors log the damage done to every property on every street, Pizzey reports. The architects and engineers who make the assessments have checklists that include details as fine as type of wood and glass damaged — a clear indication the system was all planned well in advance.

The payments, which will range from $12,000 to the hundreds of thousands — will come in U.S. dollars — much of it from Iran, Pizzey reports. It all makes for a much better reason for people to trust Hezbollah — or the United Nations.

In other developments:

•   $nbsp; About 30 members of Palestinian Journalists' Union gathered in Gaza City to protest the kidnappings of Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig. The two were seized Monday near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.

•   $nbsp; Israeli troops on Sunday detained a senior Hamas legislator, pushing forward with a crackdown on the Islamic militant group, Palestinian officials and relatives of the man said. Troops surrounded the home of Mahmoud al-Ramahi, secretary-general of the parliament, in broad daylight and detained him, said his sister, Yaqeen. Al-Ramahi had evaded arrest since Israel began its crackdown on Hamas officials following the June 25 abduction of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip.

•   $nbsp; 49 French peacekeepers came ashore Saturday at southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura, about 2 miles north of the border with Israel. About 200 more were expected next week. The French troops were the first contingent of what was to become a 15,000-strong international force to police the truce with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. France already leads the U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, and had 200 soldiers in the country before today's fresh arrivals.

•   $nbsp; Israeli soldiers returning from the war in Lebanon are complaining they were hindered by short supplies, a lack of information, poor training and untested equipment.

•   $nbsp; The Lebanese army has deployed more than 1,500 troops in three sectors that Israeli forces have left, and the U.N. force — which currently numbers 2,000 — has set up checkpoints and started patrolling the areas.

•   $nbsp; Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has put his plans for a unilateral pullout from much of the West Bank on hold for now, but has not abandoned the idea altogether, a top Olmert aide said Friday, confirming a newspaper report. The Haaretz daily said Olmert told Cabinet ministers this week that in light of the Israel-Hezbollah war, the pullout was no longer his top priority.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)