Israeli raid strains cease-fire

POSSIBLE OBJECTIVE WAS THE RESCUE OF KIDNAPPED SOLDIERS

By Bruce Wallace
Los Angeles Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon - An Israeli commando raid deep into Lebanon on Saturday put the first serious strain on a cease-fire but also raised suggestions that the Israelis might have had some major objective in mind, perhaps the rescue of two abducted comrades or the capture of a major Hezbollah figure.

Israel and Lebanon swiftly accused each other of breaking the U.N. Security Council resolution that established the conditions for ending more than a month of cross-border bombing and rocket attacks that left hundreds of people dead.

Lebanon called the attack a ``flagrant violation'' of a fragile 6-day-old cease-fire and threatened to halt troop deployments in protest.

The Israeli military said its special forces were trying to disrupt Hezbollah arms-supply routes from Syria, contending that the Lebanese army was failing to prevent Hezbollah from replenishing its weapons stockpiles.

The Israeli commandos clashed with Hezbollah fighters in a raid that left one Israeli soldier dead.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement later Saturday saying that he was ``deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities.''

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Mark Regev said: ``There was an attempt to bring in weaponry from Syria to Lebanon. The resolution calls for there to be Lebanese soldiers and international force there on the border crossings to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, they're not there at the moment. In the interim period, we can't have a situation where Hezbollah is smuggling weapons and is rearming and regrouping.''

But Israel produced no evidence of intercepted weapons. And the depth of the Israeli raid -- 60 miles inside Lebanon -- led to widespread speculation that the commandos might have been on a mission to rescue two kidnapped Israeli soldiers from Hezbollah's hands. The kidnapping in early July sparked the fighting.

Saturday's firefight occurred in fields outside Boudai, a town just west of the historic city of Baalbek and an area deeply loyal to Hezbollah. Lebanese media quoted witnesses who said the Israelis landed in helicopters in a cornfield and then began traveling along back roads in two military vehicles.

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