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Lebanon warns militant groups against violating the ceasefire

Those breaking the truce will be decisively dealt with, says Defence Minister

Beirut: Lebanon's Defence Minister on Sunday said any group breaking the cease-fire in southern Lebanon would be ``decisively dealt with'' and would be considered a traitor.

Defence Minister Elias Murr's comments apparently were to air concerns that factions other than Hizbollah, which he said is committed to the ceasefire, may attempt to draw Israeli retaliation by firing on the Jewish state.

``We consider that when the resistance [Hizbollah] is committed not to fire rockets, then any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel to provide a pretext [to Israel] to strike,'' he told a news conference at the Defence Ministry.

On Saturday, Mr. Murr threatened to stop the deployment of the army in south Lebanon, a key demand of the U.N. ceasefire resolution, after Israel's helicopter-borne commando raid deep in the Bekaa Valley. Israel said he launched the raid to interdict weapons shipments for Hizbollah from Syria. One Israeli officer was killed and two soldiers were wounded, one seriously.

Lebanon was in the process of sending 15,000 soldiers to the south, putting a Government force in the region for the first time in four decades, as part of the cease-fire requirements.

Arab Ministers meet

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministers or representatives of the 22 member states of the Arab League began an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on Sunday afternoon to discuss an Arab response to a post-war Lebanon and the volatile West Asia situation.

Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa said the meeting would focus on Lebanon's reconstruction, preparations for reviewing the Arab-Israeli conflict before the U.N. Security Council in September and holding an emergency Arab summit on Lebanon. — AP, Xinhua

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