Tuesday, May 23, 2000 HEADLINES IR chases retreating bands of occupation troops and collaborators Israeli aggressions kill civilian, wound others Hezbollah reiterates firm positions on Israeli pullout Hezbollah now in control of much of south Lebanon Israelis rue "humiliating" Lebanon pullout, fear it may be too hasty Annan wants Lebanon force increased to 7,935 SLA's disintegration ends Israel's dream of a militia at its service Syria Says Israeli Withdrawal Proof of Failure Gulf press hails Israeli "defeat" in south Lebanon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IR chases retreating bands of occupation troops and collaborators As part of its continuous operations and chasing the bands of the retreating Israeli occupation forces and their collaborators, the Islamic Resistance (IR) at 8:20 a.m. Tuesday blitzed the outposts of the Lahdi 30th Regiment with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades scoring direct hits. The attacks were as follows: squad of Martyrs Ali al-Hoq and Essa al-Hoq attacked al-Ahmadieh outpost, squad of Martyrs Hassan Alaeddeen and Mohammed Nassreddeen pounded the 70th regiment's command HQ in Zoghle, squad of Martyrs Adnan Makki and Fidaa Madi the Ain Qinia outpost, squad of Martyrs Adel al-Musawi and Abbas Awdeh in IR's Artillery Reinforcement Unit (ARU) pounded the Abu Qamha emplacement and barred it from intervening and backing up the targeted outposts. IR's squad of Martyrs Hassan Haballah and Sami al-Hajj at 9:55 attacked the Lahdi outpost in Rihan with rocket propelled grenades scoring direct hits. Smoke billowed from the outpost. Meanwhile, squad of Martyrs Zeinelabedeen Suleiman and Hassan Zeineddeen attacked and hit the enemy's emplacements in Dhour al-Aishieh and squad of Martyrs Zuheir Tabatibaie and Ali Noureddeen targeted the Tenth Regiment command HQ in the Lahdi Rihan barracks scoring direct hits. At 10:15, squad of Martyr Suleiman Yahia pounded the Zionist barracks in Rihan and squad of Martyrs Ahmed al-Sharqawi and Hussein Mefleh attacked the Zionist barracks in al-Aishieh. IR men scored direct hits in both attacks. Moreover, as the Zionist occupation forces were retreating from the Zoghle barracks at 11:45, IR's squad of Martyrs Hussein Mazloum at 11:45 attacked the barracks with the appropriate weapons scoring direct hits. At 12:30 squad of Martyrs Ahmed al-Ash'hab attacked the Zionist barracks in Rihan with the appropriate weapons. IR's squad of Martyrs Hussein al-Rashieni and Ali Shehab at 13:00 attacked the Dabshe outpost as enemy vehicles were gathering at its gate. IR men used the appropriate weapons in the attack scoring definite hits. At 14:00, squad of Martyrs Kassab Mohammed al-Ahmar and Mahmoud Hashem attacked the Tohra outpost while squad of Martyrs Youssef Amhaz and Abbass Awad targeted the Zionist barracks in Rihan with the appropriate weapons scoring direct hits. In retaliation for the Israeli enemy's repeated aggressions that targeted civilians and their cars at the Mais-Houla-Markaba-Eddaise road which led Tuesday afternoon to the martyrdom of a civilian, IR at 15:30 targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with the appropriate weapon. The tank which was positioned in Dohor al-Edaisse (adjacent to the border with occupied Palestine) was definitely burned. In the meantime, squad of Martyrs Eissa Qtaish and Hamza Fayyad targeted enemy movements inside the Beaufort outpost in a violent and concentrated fashion scoring hits. At 16:00, squad of Martyrs Kamel Badreddeen and Adnan Hazimeh targeted motorized movements in the Dabshe outpost scoring definite hits. Moreover, IR's Engineering unit at 16:15 managed to dynamite the Jamouse outpost which was completely destroyed. Earlier, IR's squad of Martyrs Mohammed Qansou and Qassem Zeineddeen at 18:20 Monday pounded the occupation's outposts in al-Jamouseh, al-Qawzah, Shla'boun and Hmayyed with rocket propelled grenades scoring definite hits. Squad of Martyrs Mohammed Hassan Najm and Mohammed Hussein Serhan at 18:50 attacked the Beir Kallab outpost and squad of Martyrs Hamed Mohammed Tlais and Ali Hussein Shahbour targeted at 19:00 the Zionist barracks in Rihan. IR men used the appropriate weapons in both attacks scoring direct hits. At 19:45, IR's squad of Martyrs Khalil Ali al-Saheli and Ghassan al-Jabali targeted enemy vehicles that were staging attacks from the Zionist Center 17 in Bint Jbeil on the residents returning to their liberated hometowns. A Merkava tank was destroyed completely in the attack and those in it were either killed or wounded. Furthermore, squad of Martyrs Ali Sami Saifeddeen and Ali Saed Faqeeh targeted the same outpost at 19:30 with the appropriate weapons while squad of Martyrs Fayez Salhab and Hassan Hijazi targeted enemy vehicles that were moving in the outpost with rocket propelled grenades scoring definite hits. At 19:55, squad of Martyrs Raed Bjaiji and Fouad Ismail attacked the al-Ahmadieh outpost scoring direct hits. IR's Engineering Unit at 21:30 Monday detonated the Lahdi 70th Regiment command HQ in al-Qobaa with a large deal of explosives completely destroying the outpost. In the meantime, squad of Martyrs Ali Wehbe and Abbas al-Shab attacked the Tairharfa outpost. At 21:45, squad of Martyrs Khodor Mahdi and Moslem Khalil targeted the retreating collaborators' bands between the outposts of al-Hardoun and al-Bayyada. Squad of Martyrs Adel Amhaz and Ghaleb an-Najjar attacked at 22:00 the Zionist occupation's outpost in Beaufort. At 22:30, squad of Martyrs Ali al-Bustani and Mohammed Rmaiti attacked enemy movements inside the Zionist Dabshe outpost. Squad of Martyrs Zeinelabedeen Nabbouh and Hikmat Haidar pounded enemy vehicles in the Zionist barracks in Rihan, and squad of Martyrs Qassem Dbouq and Ibrahim Herez targeted the Zionist barracks in al-Aishieh. At 23:20, squad of Martyrs Hassan Mortada and Sami Wahab attacked the Swaida outpost while IR's ARU - squad of Martyrs Mohammed Beshara and Ahmed Shuman pounded the same outpost in a violent and concentrated manner. Squad of Martyrs Hussein Zeid and Abbas Htait at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday attacked enemy retreating forces in the vicinity of the town of Bayyada. At 2:40, IR's squad of Martyrs Ahmed Sherri and Asaad al-Atat targeted the Zionist barracks in al-Aishieh as enemy vehicles were moving inside the outpost, while squad of Martyrs Mohammed Meslmani and Atef Marjeh attacked the Zionist barracks in Rihan. IR's squad of Martyrs Mohammed Ameen and Wissam Darweesh targeted enemy movements in the Beaufort outpost as squad of Martyrs Ali Sha'eb and Hussein Hakeem attacked the Dabshe outpost. At 5:35, squad of Martyrs Hassan Sbeiti and Samir Khalaf pounded the al-Tohra outpost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Israeli aggressions kill civilian, wound others The Israeli warplanes on Tuesday staged 25 raids on the vicinity of the Zoghle outpost which had become isolated. The enemy's artillery also targeted the outpost with around 250 rounds while its warplanes fired more than 50 missiles that targeted three bridges linking the liberated area with the villages of Meimes and Zimrayya. The Israeli artillery, meanwhile, bombarded with tens of rounds the sector adjacent to the western Beqaa. Security sources said the Israeli bombardment went on for four hours adding that the objective was to cover up the evacuation of around 10 Israeli troops who were in Zoghle. The Israeli troops managed to come out of the area in a Merkava tank and a military vehicle under a heavy barrage of fire, the sources said. "Four Lahdi militiamen who were in Zoghle were left on the road; their fate was unknown ." The sources said the militiamen who had been in four outposts around Zoghle evacuated their outposts and surrendered to the Lebanese arms. On the other hand, an official sources in Beirut said Lebanon has filed an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council over the recent Israeli aggression. A statement issued by Prime Minister Dr. Salim al-Hoss said he has informed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during a phone call he got from Annan Monday evening that Lebanon intends to file an urgent complaint with the international body. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hezbollah reiterates firm positions on Israeli pullout Hezbollah Secretary General his Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah praised the residents and the Resistance men who entered on Monday the towns of Qantara, al-Qsair, Dair Sirian, and al-Taibeh "and paved the way for what we saw yesterday and what we are seeing today." Speaking at a press conference, his Eminence said "Barak's government was surprised by this blessed brave step, and by this swift and astonishing collapse of agent Antoine Lahd's militia." One cannot but wonder about the greatness of this Israeli military intelligence service that was surprised by Lahd militia's collapse, a known fact that did not need gathering information, evaluation or scrutiny, Sayyed Nasrallah said. He appreciated the awareness expressed by the Lebanese during the last few days. "We have all seen how Lahd's militia collapsed quickly in the middle and western sectors. The agents surrendered themselves to the Resistance or the Lebanese army and all the towns of the two sectors returned to freedom and the homeland. "One can note some remarks throughout the past three days. "There was not even one problem. A lot of people had betted on the claim that when the areas are liberated, families would fight, political forces would have conflicts and the situation would be black, dark and tough, we read a lot of such analyses that make one pessimistic. However, throughout the past three days there were no problems that are worth-mentioning; a fact we bows before as we highly appreciate the residents, the Resistance men and the political forces besides the awareness of all the residents of the occupied town that were liberated and the returning residents, for they have dealt with the situation with awareness, wisdom and tolerance. In fact, they are presenting a model and prove that they are a people that deserves this historic victory. "The killing of civilians that took place yesterday (Monday) is very serious. Of course those who were martyred yesterday are liberation martyrs, victory martyrs, for if it were not for this courage and bravery, towns would not have fallen one after the other, the people entered the towns in which there were outposts still occupied by the militiamen; after the people entered the towns, the militiamen ran away and the Israeli aircraft came to destroy the outposts or the resistance dynamited them. "What the residents did yesterday and the day before is a real liberation operation." As for the enemy's failed attempt to create unrest, Sayyed Nasrallah said, "The middle and western sectors - from Edaisse, to the coast - were liberated without any problems. The field has proven that what was said was wrong. "Let us say it frankly, there are people talking with concern about the (Christian) residents in Ein Ebel, Rmeish, Dibel, and Alma al-Shaab. What has happened on the ground reassures (all) before anything is said in press conferences. The people are our people; they are in our eyes and hearts. There is no reason to make anyone scared. "Our problem is with the collaborator be he the son of Ein Ebel or Bint Jbeil or elsewhere. Agents have no hometowns. As for the rest (of the residents), they are all our people, as much as we safeguard the people of Bint Jbeil, we safeguard the residents of Ein Ebel and Rmeish. "I say to them, you are our people, brothers, fathers, mothers, and children, your blood is our blood, your honor is our honor, your property is our property, don't let anyone disturb your thoughts, you will be safe. I say this to confirm the fact to the residents of the liberated villages and to underline to the residents of Marjeyoun and Hasbayya that this is the model that we believe in and seek." Regarding the UN Secretary General's report, his Eminence said, "We have all seen the expected report made by Kofi Annan. Those who were surprised by the report do not know the UN well enough, for the report was prepared by the US- sraeli state department but was given the title of a UN report." As far as we are concerned, we do not consider what will take place as complete withdrawal from Lebanon unless it includes pullout from the Shibaa farms - that are Lebanese territories - and the release of all the Lebanese detainees including Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid, Abu Ali al-Dirani, Samir Qintar and the others. "If these two things do not happen, we will deal with the situation on the grounds that the complete withdrawal did not take place and that Lebanese soil is still occupied and there are men still detained and we have to fight to free them." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hezbollah now in control of much of south Lebanon BEIRUT, May 23 (AFP) - Hezbollah was master of the field Tuesday in much of southern Lebanon, filling the void left by Israel's withdrawal and the collapse of its allied militia, right up to the Israeli border. The group, benefiting from the absence of the Lebanese army, has been filling the vacuum in post after post abandoned by the South Lebanon Army militia in the area just north of the Israeli border. With Hezbollah controlling the entire central section of the zone up to the border with Israel, cutting the zone in half, two enclaves were holding out Tuesday in the northeast and southwest. But the SLA Tuesday afternoon began giving up in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, the last zone still nominally under Israeli control, marking the imminent final collapse of the militia, AFP correspondents reported. In Hasbaya, some 200 Druze SLA fighters gathered at their prayer site with their sheikhs to await being handed over to the Lebanese army, witnesses said. In Khiam, site of the notorious SLA-run Khiam prison, guards took flight after a crowd of 500 people stormed the jail and set some 144 Lebanese prisoners free. Meanwhile in Marjayoun, location of the headquarters of the SLA and Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, the streets were deserted, AFP correspondents said. In the west about 80 of the militiamen turned themselves over to Lebanese soldiers at the Hamra checkpoint on the road from the border town of Naqura to the port city of Tyre, farther north. Dozens of other SLA men, in hiding in villages evacuated from Sunday by the militia, have been arrested by Hezbollah while others fled to Israel with their families or waited to enter the Jewish state. For the third day in a row, civilians returned in massive numbers to border villages in the western and central sections of southern Lebanon which the Israeli army and SLA had left, AFP correspondents reported. Hezbollah sympathizers and civilians poured into the Christian villages of Ain Ebel, Debel and Rmeish in the center part of the south by car and into the Aalma ash-Shaab and Qauzah districts in the west. Thousands of other residents entered one of the main Shiite districts in the central sector, Bent Jbail, and Naqura, where the UN Interim Force in Lebanon has its headquarters. A thousand civilians and a hundred Hezbollah members, some carrying weapons and others bearing Hezbollah flags, proceeded triumphantly into Beit Jbail. The Syrian-, Lebanese- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah meanwhile said the fight against Israel would continue as long as Lebanese prisoners remain in jail and Israel holds the Shebaa region on the Golan Heights. Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned residents of northern Israel to stay in their bomb shelters over the next few days, prompting the Israeli army to tell them to take cover. Israel in return stepped up its warnings to Hezbollah in hopes of deterring guerrilla attacks after its troops complete their departure, which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said would be in a few days. "The Lebanese and Syrian governments are responsible for Hezbollah and for other groups and must take account if we are attacked. All who try to act in Lebanon will be hit hard," he said. Israel's military chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, warned that the Jewish state would be prepared to attack Syrian targets in Lebanon if necessary to ensure calm in its northern border region. "I will recommend attacks on all targets including Syrian ones if there is a threat to our soldiers," General Mofaz told reporters here after addressing a closed session of the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Israelis rue "humiliating" Lebanon pullout, fear it may be too hasty JERUSALEM, May 23 (AFP) - Israel, unquestionably the mightiest military power in the Middle East, was sent scurrying shamefaced out of Lebanon Tuesday but some analysts warned the withdrawal could prove hasty in the absence of a strong UN force to fill the void. "Caught with our pants down," shouted one headline in the mass-circulation Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot. "A Day of Humiliation," said another. "Not even Hezbollah dreamed that it would conquer 20 percent of the security zone within a few hours, at walking pace, without even firing a single bullet," the paper said in an analysis. Following the rout of its militia allies, Prime Minister Ehud Barak promised to end within days Israel's 22-year occupation of Lebanon, its own bloody Vietnam which has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers. "Memories of Saigon," said another Hebrew newspaper Maariv after the South Lebanon Army militia fled from the crumbling self-declared "security zone" after heavy pressure from the Shiite Muslim guerrillas. "Yesterday's images will be seared into Israelis memories just as the picture of the last helicopter leaving the rootfop of the American embassy in Saigon has become part of the American collective memory," columnist Hemi Shalev wrote. Recent opinion polls found that two out of three Israelis favored a unilateral withdrawal from south Lebanon, a figure that grew sharply after the death of a string of Israeli soldiers in Hezbollah attacks in February and March. Barak swept to power after May elections after pledging to pull the troops out of Lebanon, but failed in his bid to win peace agreements with Syria and Lebanon, which along with Iran are the main backers of the Hezbollah guerrillas. Analysts and political commentators cautioned that the precipitate withdrawal, brought forward from a July target date, could risk an escalation of violence because of the lack of a peace accord with Beirut and Damascus. A member of the Israeli parliament's powerful defense committee complained that residents of the northern border region felt "betrayed" by the government for failing to safeguard their security with a guarantee of extra UN forces. "We should have waited for the Security Council decision before withdrawing and not withdraw in such a messy way," the MP said, referring to a debate on boosting the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. US-based rights group Human Rights Watch also issued a report on Tuesday voicing concerns about the protection of the populace in both Lebanon and Israel. The Security Council was still debating Tuesday UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's recommendations to double the UN force in southern Lebanon to up to 8,000 as long as it won assurances on troop safety. In his report, Annan demanded explicit commitments on the safety of UN personnel, and warned Israel, Lebanon and Syria that unless they satisfied certain conditions, he might advise the council to pull out the UN force altogether. Shlomo Brom, senior research associate at the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies and a former top officer in the Israeli defense force, said a strong UN role was vital to ensure an absence of "atrocities or massacres." "The unilateral withdrawal is a gamble because the risks of escalation afterwards are much greater," he said, saying it would only succeed with a full disarmament of the SLA. And Hezbollah warned that its campaign would continue as long as Lebanese prisoners remain in jail and Israel does not withdraw from the disputed Shebaa region. Army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz told a parliamentary defense and foreign affairs committee that there were "a lot of difficulties" ahead, adding that the army would need a week to complete the pullout if it is accompanied by Hezbollah fire. Israel's opposition Likud party -- led by the hawkish Ariel Sharon who led Israel's ill-fated full scale invasion in Lebanon in 1982 -- accused Barak of putting the country's security at risk. "Barak is humiliating the country by abandoning the SLA. It is dangerous," said leading Likud MP Uzi Landau. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annan wants Lebanon force increased to 7,935 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asked the Security Council on Monday to almost double the UN force in Lebanon to 7,935 troops. At the same time, he demanded "explicit commitments" on the safety of UN personnel, and warned "Israel", Lebanon and Syria that unless they satisfied certain conditions, he might advise the council to pull out the UN force altogether. "Recent developments on the ground have changed the situation fundamentally," Annan said in a statement as "Israel's" proxy militia, the so-called South Lebanese Army (SLA) fell apart and Resistance men swarmed into the vacuum. The events, which precipitated an emergency cabinet meeting in "Israel", imperiled plans for future deployments of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Annan said. The plans were spelt out in a report by Annan which the UN Security Council began studying at 4:00 pm. (2000 GMT). The report recommended an increase in the size of UNIFIL from 4,513 troops to 5,600 before the Israeli withdrawal -- scheduled to take place by July 7 -- and augmented by two mechanized infantry battalions to 7,935 afterwards. The council was not expected to act on the recommendation until later in the week. Press reports from Jerusalem on Monday said speculation was rife that the troops would leave Lebanon as early as June 1, following the implosion of the SLA -- the militia which "Israel" set up as a security guard after it invaded Lebanon in March 1978. "In these circumstances it is essential that all concerned cooperate fully with the United Nations and ensure the security of UN personnel," it added. "The secretary general will be expecting explicit commitments in this regard," the statement said. In the long-awaited report, Annan recalled that 77 members of UNIFIL had been killed and 343 wounded by gunfire or bomb explosions since the force was set up in March 1978 to oversee the Israeli withdrawal. Stressing that "time is very short," he laid out certain conditions on the governments of "Israel", Lebanon and Syria for keeping UNIFIL in place. Israel must not only withdraw all military and civilian personnel, he said. The UN will not confirm its withdrawal until the SLA has been dismantled and its heavy weapons spiked or removed. Those weapons include about 70 tanks. In addition, all prisoners held in the notorious Al-Khiam detention center must be handed over, Annan wrote. For its part, Lebanon must declare its full support and cooperation with the United Nations in order to assure UNIFIL's legitimacy in the eyes of the Lebanese people. It must also take "decisive and prompt action" to restore its authority in southern Lebanon by restoring public services as well as law and order. "The United Nations cannot assume law and order functions which are properly the responsibility of the government," Annan wrote. Both the Lebanese and Syrian governments must cooperate with the UN in identifying the lines to be used for confirming the withdrawal of Israeli forces, he said. The most problematic part of this exercise is likely to be in establishing which national territory about a dozen farms belong to. The farms are on territory currently occupied by the Israeli army. Lebanon and Syria both say the farms are in Lebanon, but Israel says they are in Syria and are therefore outside the area to be evacuated by its forces. "If the conditions identified in this report do not materialize in a timely manner, UNIFIL would not be in a position to carry out its mandated tasks," Annan said. Such a situation may seen Annan recommending the withdrawal of the force. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLA's disintegration ends Israel's dream of a militia at its service BEIRUT, May 23 (AFP) - The disintegration of the South Lebanon Army ended Israel's long-held dream of having a militia at its service in its northern neighbour, a force that could protect the Jewish state from attacks launched by its enemies. In 1949, just after the peace agreements that ended the first Arab-Israeli the then Israaeli prime minister David Ben Gurion brought up the idea. Ben Gurion thought Israel should "establish a state in the south bordered by the Litani River and then form an alliance with it. "We should find a Lebanese Christian officer, at the rank of captain or higher, and win him to our cause or, if necessary, buy him, so he can proclaim himself the savior of the Maronite population," Israel's first foreign minister, Moshe Sharett, wrote in his journal published in 1978. "Then, the Israeli army could penetrate into Lebanon to occupy the territory in question and install a Christian regime that would form an alliance with Israel," Ben Gurion believed, according to Sharett. When Lebanon erupted into civil war in 1975, Israel was able to find the man it was looking for -- Saad Haddad, commander of a military camp in a Maronite village near the Israeli border. In October 1976, as the head of what he called the Free Lebanon Army (AFL), Haddad and his force of Lebanese Christian officers, with quiet support from Israel, took over an army base at Marjayoun, from which they could control the road connecting Palestinian military positions on Mount Hermon to the Mediterranean Sea. In 1977, confrontations grew with the Palestine Liberation Organization, a major force in the south, and Israeli army officers came to the AFL's assistance. But it was in 1978 that Ben Gurion's idea was able to come to fruition. The Israeli army launched its first invasion of southern Lebanon, financing and arming Haddad's force, now rechristened the South Lebanon Army (SLA). When the 25,000 Israeli soldiers left, Israel handed control over not to the 6,000 UN troops that had just arrived, but instead gave its proxy army a five to 10 kilometer (three to six mile) "security zone." The Lebanese army tried to return to the south on the tails of the UN force in July 1978 and again in 1979, but each time Haddad's forces bombarded them. Twice Haddad was court martialed in his absence for "collaboration with the enemy" and twice he was cashiered from the Lebanese army. In the summer of 1982, Israel's ambition was even grander. Its army advanced to Beirut and lent its strong hand to Christian militia leader Bashir Gemayel, who then became president of the Lebanese republic. But Israel's hopes of finally having a friendly Lebanese government faded quickly. Gemayel was assassinated in September and replaced with his brother Amin, who under Syrian pressure refused to sign an Israeli-Lebanese agreement in May 1983. Israel's army, attacked ever more frequently, decided to retire gradually to an 850 square kilometer (340 square mile) "security zone" in Lebanon's extreme south. The area was trusted to the SLA, which after Haddad's death in 1985 was led by Antoine Lahad. The 2,500 SLA militia soldiers were deployed to advance posts throughout the occupied zone and from 1985 on, without the Israelis, controlled the 40 square kilometer (16 square mile) Christian zone of Jezzin. Israel paid the SLA militiamen handsomely, giving base soldiers salaries going up to 500 US dollars a month, and granted militia members' families the right to work in Israel. The security from the SLA left Israel comfortable enough to station only 1,000 men in southern Lebanon -- a move that also diminished Israeli casualties. In the past few days, members of the SLA have been giving themselves up to Hezbollah, while others have chosen voluntary exile. Some have gone to Israel, while Lahad, the group's leader, is now in Paris. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Syria Says Israeli Withdrawal Proof of Failure DAMASCUS, May 23 (Reuters) - Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon proved that it failed to achieve its objectives through occupation and would not find peace until it gave up all Arab land, a Syrian information official said on Tuesday. "Israel's accelerated withdrawal from south Lebanon proves that its occupation of the area during the last 22 years was a total failure and a disaster (for Israel)," the official said. "Israel will achieve no gains out of its occupation of any Arab lands. It will not enjoy any security until it ends its occupation of Arab lands and accepts the establishment of a just and comprehensive peace based on full withdrawal from all the Arab lands which it occupied in the 1967 war," he added. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday that Israel would complete its accelerated withdrawal from its 15-km (nine-mile) deep occupation zone in south Lebanon in a few days. Barak has said Israel would carry out the pullout with or without a peace treaty with Lebanon and Syria. Sporadic U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Syria and Israel broke down in January due to disagreement over the fate of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 war. Syria rejected an Israeli offer for partial withdrawal allowing Israel to keep control of the northeastern shore of Lake Tiberias which provides it with 42 percent of its drinking water. Damascus demanded full withdrawal. The Syrian daily al-Baath, organ of the ruling Baath Party urged Barak to learn a lesson from Israel's occupation of south Lebanon and to reconsider Israel's policies, especially its position regarding the Middle East peace process. "Barak and his entity should learn a lesson from south Lebanon and seize the opportunity to reconsider Israel's policies regarding the peace process in particular and the region in general," al-Baath said. "Israel will never enjoy any security unless it ends its aggressions and withdraws fully and unconditionally from all the occupied Arab lands to the June 4, 1967, line," it said. "Any attempt by Israel to deny this fact or continue to ignore it will lead to nothing but to more defeats for Israel and deepening of its dilemma and crisis," al-Baath said. "It will also push the whole region to grave dangers that threaten peace, security and stability of the Middle East and the world," the newspaper said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gulf press hails Israeli "defeat" in south Lebanon DUBAI, May 23 (AFP) - Newspapers in the Arab Gulf gleefully hailed on Tuesday the "defeat" of Israel's war machine in southern Lebanon and the rout of its militia allies. "The blows struck by the Lebanese resistance against positions held by the occupation forces on the border strip have sowed confusion in Israel," said the Saudi daily Al-Jazira. "Events in south Lebanon are a clear defeat for the Israeli army whose modern weapons and sophisticated arsenal proved useless," said the newspaper which like all the media in the kingdom reflects official views. In the United Arab Emirates, Al-Khaleej congratulated the Lebanese people for their "resistance and for the spectacular collapse of the Israeli army." Israeli Prime Minister Ehud "Barak and his generals, defeated and beating the retreat, continue to commit massacres against the Lebanese who have flooded back into their liberated villages," the daily said. "Who would have believed the invincible Israeli army would be defeated in south Lebanon and that hundreds of members of its militia auxiliary which has the most modern weapons would collapse so quickly," the official Abu Dhabi newspaper Al-Ittihad commented. Barak pledged Tuesday that the withdrawal would be completed in the next few days. Israeli soldiers made a large-scale overnight retreat after the South Lebanon Army militia collapsed in the face of advances by Shiite Muslim guerrillas. In Qatar, Al-Watan said: "The fact that Barak paints the withdrawal of the Israeli army as in important political achievement changes nothing about the reality on the ground. "The first reality is that the Israeli army has suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the popular Lebanese resistance and the second is that Israel's dead over the long years of occupation have caused a state of panic in Israeli society. "The image the Israeli army and its collaborators offer today betrays only ignominy and panic." Ash-Sharq, also published in Doha, said the withdrawal was "the victory of a people against the Israeli war machine." The Saudi government accused Israel of an "intransigent attitude" blocking the Middle East peace process in a statement Monday night. "The peace process is blocked on every track because of Israel's intransigent attitude which is entirely responsible for the deteriorating situation," a cabinet statement said, referring to Israeli shelling in the border zone.