425 'incomplete' unless Shebaa liberated Ramzi Mansour and Nafez Kawas Daily Star correspondents Lebanon and the United Nations locked horns on Tuesday over the implementation of Resolution 425, as Beirut demanded the release of detainees inside Israel and "condemned" the international body's failure to include the Shebaa Farms within the scope of the withdrawal. Meeting in New York, the Security Council endorsed Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to verify Israel's withdrawal from the south and help re-establish the government's authority over the area. Norwegian diplomat Terje Roed-Larsen was scheduled to arrive in Beirut on Wednesday, where he will act as an envoy of the Security Council in discussing the details of the UN's plan to verify the withdrawal. But President Emile Lahoud told an emergency meeting of the Cabinet that "while Lebanon appreciates the efforts of the UN secretary-general, it can only express its sorrow and condemnation regarding the non-inclusion of the Shebaa Farms within the framework of Resolution 425." "Syria has informed the UN of its readiness to submit a written report confirming that the farms are Lebanese," but the world body did not respond to the offer, the president said. "Another fundamental and vital shortcoming is the release of all Lebanese detainees inside (Israeli) prisons and not only those in Khiam," Lahoud said. Annan's demand that all Khiam detainees be freed was overtaken by events on Tuesday, when Hizbullah fighters and civilians stormed the prison and freed some 140 detainees. The council said it shared Annan's view that it was crucial that all parties in the region work to calm the situation, ensure the safety of civilians, cooperate with the UN and assist Beirut in regaining authority in the South. Earlier, Prime Minister Salim Hoss said that the government insisted that the Shebaa Farms were Lebanese but that it would not allow the issue to be a stumbling block to the withdrawal. "We won't place any obstacles in front of the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the rest of the South and western Bekaa," the premier said. Hoss stressed that Lebanon would fully cooperate with the UN in achieving a complete Israeli pullout to the internationally recognized border drawn in 1923 between the French and British mandates, and reconfirmed in the 1949 Lebanese-Israeli Armistice Agreement. "It's natural that we will cooperate with UNIFIL forces to liberate our territories while preserving our right to regain the Shebaa Farms," Hoss reiterated. Despite Hoss' mild tone, diplomatic sources revealed that the government was "extremely upset" with Annan's report for excluding the Shebaa Farms. The sources said the report was biased and did not take all the Lebanese documents that were sent into consideration. 'Logically, Annan should consider the Shebaa Farms land occupied by Israel, and Israel is withdrawing from land it has occupied for 22 years. He could have asked Israel to withdraw from land that Syria says is Lebanese," the sources said. For his part, Speaker Nabih Berri said that by continuing its occupation of the Shebaa Farms Israel wanted to "create divisions between Lebanon and the UN." "We warned about this issue last week and we assert that Lebanon is committed to Resolution 425 and will not allow any split with the UN," Berri told a news conference at Parliament. He criticized Annan's claim that international maps show the Shebaa Farms to be in Syria and that the area which falls under the UN Disengagement Observer Force's mandate has so far remained unchanged. Berri argued that it was untrue that the area remained unchanged since 1974, when the disengagement agreement was signed between Syria and Israel, because Israeli forces occupied two new farms in Shebaa in 1985 and 1989 and built Jewish settlements and ski resorts in the area. The speaker said that no country has claimed Shebaa as its own, supporting Beirut's insistence that the area is Lebanese. Berri stressed that as long as Shebaa was not liberated, Resolution 425 would be considered "partially implemented," allowing the Lebanese to continue fighting to regain their land. Hizbullah's Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, told a news conference on Tuesday that the resistance would also consider the withdrawal incomplete if it did not include Shebaa, suggesting that military operations would not cease until Beirut has regained all its rights. From Paris, former President Amin Gemayel also asserted that Shebaa was "no doubt" Lebanese and said Beirut should not give up claiming it. DS 24/05/00