The main front page story in the Post today is, “Israel threatens to resume the war if Hizbullah refuses to disarm”. Which they will.
The IDF will have to resume operations in Lebanon if the expanded United Nations force being assembled does not fulfill its obligation to dismantle Hizbullah, and official in the Prime Ministers’s Office warned on Tuesday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah reportedly reached a deal allowing Hizbullah to keep its weapons but refrain from exhibiting them in public. Israeli officials called the arrangement a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which passed over the weekend and was approved on Sunday by the cabinet.
Meanwhile, “IDF says free to hit Syrian arms convoys”:
Despite the cease-fire between Israel and Hizbullah, the IDF is allowed to destroy Syrian weapons convoys that cross into Lebanon to reach Hizbullah geurillas, a top IDF officer said Tuesday.
Also on the front page is a story about what one of my colleagues described as a “silly scandal” — meaning that it’s silly that it’s a scandal — the IDF Chief of General Staff selling his stocks hours after the soldiers were kidnapped. I didn’t read the whole story but my colleague says that the criticism is that he shouldn’t have been thinking about his finances when important events were happening. Below that story is a Yaakov Katz analysis about whether or not Halutz was fit for command.
Finally on the front page, for the first time since I started reading the Post, I think, are two non-war related stories. A former environment minister is charged with fraud and bribery over political appointments, and the police have recommended that Justice Minister Haim Ramon be prosecuted for sexual misconduct for “forcibly kissing” a woman.
More later…