Israel on Thursday lifted an air blockade of Lebanon imposed when it went to war with Hizbollah guerrillas eight weeks ago and a Lebanese airliner landed at Beirut's patched-up airport to mark the moment. But Israel said a naval blockade would continue until an international force was deployed off the coast.
The Middle East Airlines flight from Paris circled over Beirut to celebrate the demise of the air embargo after intense diplomacy led by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier emerged onto a balcony of a government building and waved at the low-flying plane.
A pilot waved Lebanon's cedar flag from a cockpit window as the plane taxied to a halt and the sound of fireworks echoed across Beirut. "The aerial blockade has been removed. In co-ordination with the United Nations, the naval blockade will continue until the international naval force is in place," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Lebanon, which had expected Israel to end the air and sea blockades simultaneously, contacted the United Nations to ask what had gone wrong, a government source said. "We were told there was a small technical problem that the UNIFIL command was in contact with the Israelis to resolve."
An Israeli official said the delay was because "the UN was not ready to receive" the task of coastal monitoring due to differences over who would be in charge of the operation. "When they are ready, we will transfer," the official said. Italian and French naval vessels had been expected to begin patrolling the coast until a German-led naval contingent can take over in line with a Lebanese request to the United Nations.
Many countries have criticised the blockade, which Israel said was aimed at stopping Hizbollah from rearming after the 34-day war, but which Lebanon saw as collective punishment. Finance Minister Jihad Azour told Reuters the cost to trade activity alone had been around $45 million a day.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, told MPs staging a sit-in to protest at the embargo that a "painful chapter" in Israel's war on Lebanon was over, but that it was not the last. "I announce that we have achieved our goal in bringing down the Israeli embargo," the Shi'ite politician declared.
"I am lost like many others," said 25-year-old job-seeker Dania Atrouni. "I hope this means the war is over in Lebanon ... but I no longer have faith that nothing (bad) will happen." Steinmeier arrived earlier with four police and customs experts who will advise local authorities on airport security.
A German embassy spokesman said it was not yet clear how the experts, to be joined by five more later, would relate to the United Nations peacekeeping force that is being expanded to uphold a shaky truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.
Israel bombed Beirut airport and coastal radars and barred most shipping from Lebanese ports after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
Benny Regev, brother of one of the soldiers, Eldad Regev, said he feared the pair could be spirited to Iran. "The abducted soldiers are currently in Lebanon. When the blockade is lifted, they could be taken to Tehran," he told Israel Army Radio.
Lebanon's Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, who is close to Hizbollah, said the two soldiers could only be freed after negotiations for the release of Lebanese prisoners in Israel. Annan has said he will send a secret envoy to the region this week to work on the issue.
Under the UN Security Council resolution that halted the war on August 14, up to 15,000 UN troops are to join 16,000 Lebanese soldiers deploying in the south to secure a border zone free of any Israeli or armed Hizbollah presence.
Annan said Israel should withdraw completely by mid-month and should not wait for all 15,000 UN troops to arrive. "They have to leave for the others to be able to deploy," he told a news conference with Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid after an 11-day Middle East trip.
Some 1,100 Spanish troops are set to join the UN force, which Annan said would grow to 5,000 by mid-September. "In my judgement, an international force of 5,000, plus 16,000 (Lebanese), is a credible force," he added.