Israeli Pullback Begins in Lebanon

Israeli forces began the first phase of a two-stage withdrawal from south Lebanon today, a move dictated more by political factors than the strategic situation in the field, military sources said. The sources said that Israel had little option but to pull back in light of American pressure.

But they insisted that Israel was losing very little in terms of tactical advantage while, hope-fully ridding itself of a political burden. Those sources claimed that the area being evacuated is not crucial and that Israeli forces would be able to respond to any emergency from the positions in south Lebanon they will continue to hold.

Although Israel is still not convinced that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is capable of controlling south Lebanon to prevent the return of terrorists, military circles were encouraged by the fact that a Norwegian UNIFIL unit did fire back when fired on by terrorists several days ago. That indicates that the UN troops will use their weapons if necessary, the circles said.

The Christian militia commanders appear to be the most dubious about the effectiveness of UNIFIL, pointing out that it is still below full strength and some of the units that have arrived in the field are still not organized. A 650-member Nepalese unit is expected tonight, bringing the strength of UNIFIL to more than 2500 members out of the 4000 authorized by the Security Council March 19.

The Israeli pullback was discussed by Defense Minister Ezer Weizman with U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis last night. Meanwhile, long columns of Israeli trucks and combat vehicles began moving south. Israeli soldiers were busy rounding up every piece of equipment still use-able as they pulled out of the area on the eastern sector of the front once known as “Fatah-land.”