Lebanon warns against truce violations

BEIRUT: Anyone who violates a ceasefire deal by firing rockets on Israel from Lebanon will be tried for treason, Defence Minister Elias Murr said on Sunday, in an implicit warning to Hezbollah and other armed groups.              

"Any violation... any rocket that would give Israel a justification (to hit Lebanon) will be treated harshly," Murr told a press conference.         

"It will be considered as direct collaboration with the Israeli enemy," Murr said, adding that those responsible "will be tried and referred to a military tribunal."           

He was referring to a UN-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on Monday to end 34 days of warfare between Israel and the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah that left around 1,400 people dead, mostly Lebanese civilians.    

Murr said that Hezbollah "is totally committed to this, so there are no fears."         

"When the Resistance (Hezbollah) is committed not to fire rockets, any rocket that is fired from Lebanese territories will be considered a direct collaboration with Israel," he said.      

"When the Resistance is committed, any violation will be in favor of Israel," he said.          

Murr said Lebanese troops will complete over the next few weeks their first deployment in four decades in southern Lebanon and along the borders with Syria.          

The UN resolution that led to the ceasefire calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon in tandem with the deployment of the Lebanese army and a strengthened UN force of 15,000 troops.