What is the author's bias/perspective on this article?

Question

Israel lifted its sea blockade of Lebanon on Friday, releasing its last major chokehold on the country since war broke out in July.

Fishing boats, their crews hoping to salvage what was left of the season before winter set in, chugged out to sea while water skiers and wind surfers skimmed the waves without worry for the first time in nearly two months.

More important for the Lebanese economy, ships loaded with cars, food and oil steamed toward Beirut. Trade routes to the country were cut in mid-July during the opening days of the war, and Israel had maintained the blockade even after a cease-fire was declared in mid-August. The embargo has cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost trade.

Israel said it had turned over responsibility for patrolling the Lebanese coast to Italian warships, which would help the Lebanese Navy enforce a United Nations-mandated arms embargo against Hezbollah.

''The naval blockade has ended,'' said David Baker, an official in the office of the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert. ''The international forces have taken their positions.''

Many experts here believe that Hezbollah still has plenty of weapons, and they doubt that it would try to import more arms now in any case. Few Lebanese, meanwhile, believe the multinational naval presence can do much to stop any banned shipments that do come. Hezbollah's already strong political influence in Lebanon has grown in the wake of the war.

Under the United Nations-brokered agreement that ended the blockade, the interim naval force is to remain six nautical miles from the coast and carry out searches of vessels only at the request of the Lebanese Navy. The multinational naval force is not authorized to act on its own.

The blockade was to have been lifted Thursday, but the action was delayed by confusion over who was to lead the naval force until German ships arrive to take over the task. France, which has had two ships in place since the conflict began, was initially expected to take the lead, but that role was shifted to the Italians, who have four ships offshore.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said it had already established a naval operations center to coordinate all operational details.

''The blockade has seriously undermined the Lebanese economy, and it is high time for it to end so as to allow the people to get back to their businesses,'' read a statement issued by Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, chief of the United Nations force.

The number of troops committed to the force continued to rise, with Italy saying that it would soon deploy more troops to southern Lebanon. The first of 900 French troops are expected to begin arriving there Saturday, and 500 Lebanon-bound troops left Spain by ship on Friday.

Italy's foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema, said in Tel Aviv that the number of peacekeepers in southern Lebanon could reach 5,000 by the end of next week.

''It will be possible to have an agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the next 10 days,'' he told reporters.

A spokesman for the United Nations force said that peacekeepers from Guyana, part of the earlier United Nations presence, had begun patrolling in the central and western sectors of southern Lebanon, while Indian peacekeepers were patrolling in the southeast.

He said the force had turned over three sectors north of Naqura to the Lebanese Army. Agence France-Presse reported that troops from Lebanon's Sixth Brigade, supported by tanks, entered 10 villages in the region on Friday.

Israel sent thousands of troops into southern Lebanon during the war, and they have been steadily withdrawing, though some remain in the border area.

Israeli troops detained four armed men on Friday in a southern Lebanese village controlled by Israel, Reuters reported, citing an Israeli Army spokeswoman.

But the Israeli news media reported Friday that military officials hope to complete the withdrawal before the Jewish New Year, which begins Sept. 22.

In another development, Mr. Olmert said that if Lebanon fulfilled its obligations under the United Nations resolution that ended the fighting, then Israel would be willing to discuss Shabaa Farms, a disputed piece of land near where the borders of Syria, Lebanon and Israel converge.

Israel captured Shabaa Farms from Syria as part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. However, Lebanon now claims the 10-square-mile swath of land, which overlooks Israel's Hula Valley.

When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, the United Nations, which marked the border with Israel, did not put Shabaa Farms in Lebanon. The land has been a point of contention since then, and is often mentioned by Hezbollah as a continued Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.

Resistance to Israeli occupation is the principal reason Hezbollah gives for keeping its arms.

Mr. Olmert's remarks, made Thursday night at a meeting with the visiting Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested that Hezbollah would have to disarm before any negotiations took place.

Israel failed to make Hezbollah do that by force in the recent fighting, however, and there is currently no political power inside Lebanon strong enough to compel the group to give up its weapons.

Answer 1

Leftist.

Answer 2

The perspective is this: the UN "peace" agreement is a shell game. The "blockade" will do nothing because it can not act independently of the Lebanese government, said government is a puppet of Iran and Herbollah. The Lebanese people support and are happy with Herbollah's control of their country, and because of that, may be seen as legitimate enemies of Israel.

Answer 3

The author appears to be pretty straight forward in reporting the facts and developments. I don't suspect any favoritism...in other news it mostly favored Israel, unfortunately. I like to deduce my own conclusions instead of a biased news feed.