The Israel Defense Force announced this afternoon that the IDF today evacuated the coastal city of Tyre, completing the second stage of its three-stage withdrawal from south Lebanon.
It is now deployed in the security belt which roughly parallels the international border and will remain there for about one month. The IDF spokesman said all Israeli troops will be out of Lebanon by June 5, the third anniversary of the start of the Lebanon war. He stressed that they would re-cross the border only if a clear and imminent threat to Israel develops inside Lebanon.
Israel Radio said that the area from which the IDF departed today covers some 400 square kilometers (150 square miles) and contains about 125,000 inhabitants, mostly Shiite Moslems. Chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Levy said he expected that the Lebanese army and the Shiite Amal militia would take over security responsibilities in that area.
He said today’s move reduced by half the number of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. He described the security belt the IDF now occupies as “less problematic” than the regions evacuated over the past few weeks. It is between 8-15 kilometers deep and extends about 12 kilometers along the coastline. Its population is about 110,000, about half of them Shiites.
WITHDRAWAL IS SLIGHTLY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
Premier Shimon Peres told reporters in Jerusalem today that the evacuation of Tyre was carried out slightly ahead of schedule. He attributed this to the efficiency of the IDF.
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin told reporters that the ethnic fighting — between Moslems and Christians — that erupted in recent days as the IDF accelerated its pull-out, would not be repeated in the security belt. He said the IDF would prevent ethnic and factional strife which could pose a threat to Israel’s security.
The Defense Minister explained that the IDF would remain in the security belt for a month to make sure that local forces will be available and capable of preventing bloodshed.
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, the government has to contend with rising fears among Israelis in the towns and settlements adjacent to the Lebanese border that the IDF pullout will jeopardize their security. Peres said the Cabinet will discuss these problems at a meeting tomorrow with representatives of the northern towns.
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