A rescue gone awry

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Dressed in Lebanese army uniforms and ready with several Arabic speakers, an Israeli commando team that landed near the city of Baalbek was apparently trying to rescue two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah last month, according to a senior Lebanese security official.

But the daring rescue attempt on Saturday failed when the commandos were stopped at a Hezbollah checkpoint, and the guerrillas became suspicious of their visitors' unusual Arabic accents.

The predawn raid began when about 20 commandos - and two military vehicles - were dropped by helicopters in wheat fields outside the town of Bouday, 10 miles west of Baalbek. "They were after the soldiers. They thought they could find them in Bouday," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official refused to disclose what evidence he had that the Israeli raid was directed at release of the soldiers. Asked if they were being kept in the area, he replied: "I can't say for certain."

An official at the Israeli Consulate in New York said yesterday he could neither confirm nor deny that the raid was intended to rescue the soldiers.

The raid provoked criticism from the Lebanese government and the United Nations, and threatened to undermine a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which took effect Aug. 14. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Israel's action a violation of the UN resolution that imposed the cease-fire after 34 days of fighting.

Under the resolution, Israel is allowed to conduct defensive military operations - and to respond if northern Israel is attacked with rockets. But the raid took place 60 miles from the Israeli border, and far from Israeli positions in south Lebanon.

Israeli officials said the operation was intended to disrupt arms shipments to Hezbollah from its two allies, Iran and Syria. "The UN Security Council resolution on Lebanon is very explicit: It says that Hezbollah cannot use the cease-fire to rearm," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told reporters in Jerusalem. "That was happening, and Israel acted to prevent that from happening."

But the UN resolution does not give Israel the right to enforce the arms embargo on Hezbollah. That task is left to the Lebanese government and a UN peacekeeping force. Moreover, the Lebanese official noted that the Israeli commando unit was ill-equipped to intercept an arms shipment.

"If this was really about stopping a shipment of weapons, the Israelis would have attacked it from the air instead of sending a commando team," the official said. "There is no reason to put a military unit in danger this way."

The official gave the following account of the raid:

Israeli commandos filed into their military vehicles and drove toward the center of Bouday. About a half-mile from town, they were stopped by Hezbollah guerrillas who asked what they were doing. The Israelis identified themselves as members of the Lebanese army, but the fighters became suspicious because they mispronounced some Arabic words.

The Hezbollah men radioed another group of guerrillas down the road, and they ambushed the two vehicles. After fighting broke out, dozens of armed villagers joined in the firefight. The Israelis were forced to retreat to their landing site before they could reach their target. Several helicopters fired missiles and machine guns as the commandos were evacuated. The entire incident lasted about an hour.

After daybreak, villagers found bandages, syringes and a few abandoned weapons at the landing site.

Israeli officials said one soldier was killed and two wounded in the raid. Lebanese officials reported that three Hezbollah fighters were killed and three wounded, and that Israeli jets destroyed a bridge near the site where the commandos landed - the first Israeli air strike since the cease-fire.

Lebanese media speculated that the Israelis were trying to kill or abduct Sheik Mohammed Yazbek, a senior Hezbollah leader who lives in Bouday. During the war, Israeli forces carried out several raids trying to capture Hezbollah leaders who could be used as bargaining chips for the release of the two troops abducted by Hezbollah on July 12.

It was Hezbollah's snatching of the soldiers from Israeli territory that provoked the largest Israeli attack on Lebanon since its invasion in 1982.

While the UN resolution calls for the soldiers' unconditional release, it does not give Israel the right to carry out military operations to free them. Hezbollah leaders vow that they will only exchange the troops for three Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli custody for decades.

Baalbek, a city in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley best known for its ancient Roman ruins, was the birthplace of Hezbollah in the early 1980s. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Hezbollah operated training camps in the Bekaa and the area is still a strong base of support for the Shia militant group.

On Aug. 2, Israeli commandos raided a Hezbollah-run hospital in Baalbek, fighting with guerillas for hours before finally withdrawing.

The battle killed 26 Lebanese, most of them civilians. Israeli officials said they gathered intelligence about the soldiers' abduction.

The security official expects Israel to carry out more raids in and around Baalbek looking for its troops.

"The Israelis are focusing on this part of the Bekaa," the official said. "They're hoping that one of their raids will be successful."