Editorial: Cease-fire must be enforced

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006 | 7:01 a.m.

A cease-fire has quieted the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, but the fighting could easily erupt again if the agreement is not properly enforced.

Perhaps the most revealing fact of the war, which began July 12 when Hezbollah terrorists crossed the border and killed three Israeli soldiers and abducted two others, was the quantity and type of arms the group possessed.

As Israel justifiably mounted a strong military response to the killings and abductions, it came under withering, daily attacks by missiles. But because the cowardly Hezbollah fighters use civilians as cover, Israel came under intense international pressure to stop its assault against them.

Part of the cease-fire agreement, brokered by the United States and France, calls for an end to the arming and training of "any entity or individual" in Lebanon, except as approved by the democratically elected Lebanese government. The agreement was approved by the United Nations Security Council on Friday and approved by the Lebanese government, Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend.

The agreement also calls for Lebanese troops, together with United Nations forces, to swiftly deploy to southern Lebanon and gain control of the border region, to guard against further incursions into Israel by Hezbollah and to protect against any more missile attacks. As those combined forces deploy, Israel is to gradually withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

As the cease-fire agreement calls only for an end to "offensive" operations, Israel will be able to maintain its air and naval blockade of Lebanon, to protect against continued arms shipments to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria.

In support of free elections in Lebanon, the United Nations passed a similar resolution two years ago. The resolution called upon the Lebanese government to assert itself in the southern part of the country, as protection for Israel's northern border, and to disarm Hezbollah. Neither happened.

Hezbollah is gaining support from the Lebanese population by taking on the guise of a social agency. But as seen by this war, social work is clearly not its main objective. Above all else Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel. If allowed, it will continue to build up armaments through its ties to Syria and Iran.

This latest U.N. resolution, the cease-fire agreement, must be backed by a will to enforce it, a strong will that all nations must be prepared to exert for decades.