From Beirut To The Beltway, a blog new to me, has information on the Lebanese Prime Minister's speech to the nation of Lebanon.
AT LAST!!! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?
In an emotional address to the Lebanese people, PM Fouad Siniora declared Lebanon a disaster area, and called for 3 things:
1- An immediate cease fire brokered by the UN
2- The Lebanese state to extend its control over all lebanese territories with UN help. He vowed that Lebanese will additionally abide by the 1949 armstice agreement with Israel.
3- Called on Lebanon's friends to send humanitarian aid and economic assistance to Lebanon
Siniora condemned the unjustified Israeli aggression on Lebanon and held Israel responsible for the humanitarian catastrophy. Most importantly, he said the "Lebanese state will not rise if it is the last to know." He reiterated that he did not condone Hizbullah's operation (he did not call Hizbullah resistance). He said "only the state has the right to make war decisions."
With this, Lebanon's prime minister has officially pulled the plug on Hizbullah. Yet his government is weak, which is why he asked for UN help.
I have said before that I doubted the UN would do a bit of good with the situation in Lebanon. But this is a huge opportunity for Europe to use NATO effectively and step up to do the right thing. Which is to disarm Hezbollah and help the Lebanese government back onto it's feet after years of Syrian abuse.
I am not sure this is a NATO role here. Afghanistan is because we are there as the result of an attack on a NATO member (us) but so far the situation in Lebanon is both outside of NATO’s area of concern and the action there is not an attack on a NATO member nation.
In other words, I am not sure if NATO could legally do anything there even if it wanted to. Yougoslavia was different because it is in Europe.
But having said all of that, it is interesting to note that the barrage of words coming from the Lebanese president has not been matched with any actions by the Lebanese army to gain control of the situation along the Israeli border. The Lebanese government is apparently either afraid of Hezbollah or tacitly accepting of the Hezbollah actions even while making speeches to the contrary. Where is the Lebanese army?