Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday blamed Lebanon for the capture of two soldiers by the Hezbollah militia, branding the attack an “act of war” and threatening a “painful” response.
He ruled out any negotiations with Hezbollah in a bid to free the servicemen, snatched on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
“This morning’s events are not a terror attack but the action of a sovereign state which attacked Israel without any reason,” Olmert told a joint news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
“One thing must be understood: This was an act of war without any provocation on the sovereign territory… of the state of Israel.
“Israel will react in a decisive way so that those responsible for the attack will pay a high and painful price,” vowed the premier, who is facing his second crisis over captive servicemen in barely a fortnight.
“The Lebanese government is responsible. Lebanon will pay the price,” the prime minister declared after the militia attack in which another three Israeli soldiers were killed.
Olmert also vowed no negotiations to release the servicemen, taking the the same hardline stance he has adopted toward the governing Palestinian movement Hamas following the June 25 abduction of teenage corporal on the Gaza border.
“We will not hold negotiations or give in to terrorism. It was true yesterday, it is true today,” Olmert told reporters.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed when a tank came under attack after Israel sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, backed by aircraft and artillery, in the first ground operation into the country since a 2000 pull-out.
The crisis has posed the first real test of Olmert’s leadership since his government was formally sworn in on May 4.
Clearing his schedule, Olmert called an emergency Cabinet meeting for 8pm (5pm GMT), while the military called up a rapid-deployment reserve division of 6 000 troops, headed for Israel’s northern border.
Israel has flatly refused to negotiate with Hamas, whose armed wing claimed joint responsibility for the capture of 19-year-old Gilad Shalit along with two other militant Palestinian groups.
Ground troops also thrust deeper into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a bid to retrieve Shalit as aircraft struck a house killing nine Palestinians from the same family and reportedly wounded Hamas’s supreme military commander.
World presses Hezbollah
Meanwhile, world powers demanded the release of the two Israeli soldiers, fearing the crisis could careen out of control as Israeli forces mounted an offensive in Lebanon.
The United States, United Nations, Russia, Britain, Japan and the European Union condemned the kidnappings and Hezbollah rocket attacks against Israel, saying they had dangerously escalated Middle East tensions.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the men would only be returned if Israeli released Lebanese prisoners in exchange.
“I condemn without hesitation the attack that took place in southern Lebanon and demand that the Israeli soldiers be released immediately,” United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters in Rome.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also denounced the kidnapping, saying Hezbollah’s action “undermines regional stability and goes against the interests of both the Israeli and Lebanese people”.
Rice discussed the situation with Annan, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, according to a statement released upon her arrival in Paris.
“We are united in determination to achieve the release of the Israeli soldiers,” she said.
Her deputy for Middle Eastern affairs, David Welch, in Cairo to meet with the Arab League, added: “This is, in the judgement of the United States, a very dangerous escalation.
“We do not see how this will contribute to our effort to resolve the crisis in Gaza and to get back on a path toward a more peaceful relationship between Israel and the Palestinians.”
But as Western allies and Japan condemned the violence, Syria and its key regional ally Iran, the main backers of the Shiite militia Hezbollah, both blamed Israel for the clash.
And Palestinian party Hamas congratulated Hezbollah on the operation.
In Damascus, Syrian Vice-President Faruq al-Shara said it was “certain” that Israel’s occupation of Arab land was the root cause.
Visiting Iranian envoy Ali Larijani said resistance was the only option at a time when Israel was “launching attacks and carrying out massacres against the Palestinian people”.
Hamas, whose armed wing claimed joint responsibility for the capture of another Israeli soldier more than two weeks ago, said in a statement that the snatch of Israeli hostages “shows the weakness of the Israeli army which boasts that it is an invincible army”.
And the leader of Egypt’s oppposition Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Mehdi Akef, said Hezbollah had “achieved what several Arab governments have not” by capturing the soldiers on the Lebanese border.
But outside the region, governments and power blocs united in pressing Hezbollah to free the captives, but most also called on Israel to show a measured response so as to pull back from the brink of even fiercer clashes.
“Hezbollah’s actions will further escalate an already tense situation in the region. A further escalation is in no one’s interest,” British junior foreign minister Kim Howells said.
“We call on all parties to take actions to promote a rapid and peaceful resolution of the crisis and urge that any Israeli action be both measured and proportionate,” he said.
Russia, calling for the men’s release, warned that the border clashes could upset Lebanon’s “fragile” stability. “Israel, for its part, should demonstrate restraint,” its foreign ministry said.
“We condemn unreservedly kidnappings and the Israeli soldiers must be released safely,” said Emma Udwin, the European Union executive spokesperson in Brussels, while the German government also demanded the men’s release “immediately and without any conditions”.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who was visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, expressed concern about the slide into violence.
“But I hope both will agree on the peace process with self-restraint and hope for peace,” he said, standing shoulder to shoulder with Olmert.
“We heartily hope that Israel will take rational action by considering the importance of the coexistence and co-prosperity in the mid- and long run.” – AFP