2006年VOA标准英语-Lebanon's Army Moves Into Southern Part of Coun

By Challiss McDonough
Qasmiye, Lebanon
17 August 2006
 

Lebanese Army soldier flashes victory sign as he rides in a truck on the way to deployment¹ in southern Lebanon, Thursday, August 17, 2006  
  
Fifteen thousand Lebanese Army troops are deploying² in south Lebanon along the border with Israel. It is the first time in more than three decades that Lebanon's military has begun to control its own border.

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Not long after dawn, about 100 Lebanese Army trucks rolled across a temporary bridge over the Litani River, heading south toward the border. They bore Lebanese flags fluttering in the wind.

The temporary bridge in Qasmiye was set up to replace one destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. The first trucks to cross it carried armored personnel carriers, followed by loads of bedrolls, plastic chairs and other supplies, and then came the troop carriers, open trucks packed with Lebanese Army soldiers.

Other troops arrived by boat at the port in Tyre. Military officials said full deployment along the border is expected to take about 24 hours. Eventually, there will be 15,000 Lebanese troops deployed³ in the south, and an equal number of U.N. peacekeepers, who will take much longer to arrive.

For 34 days, the Lebanese Army stood by while Israeli bombs, rockets and artillery⁴ battered⁵ the south and east of the country, as well as the southern suburbs of the capital. Now the army will have a role to play - not in fighting a war, but in preserving a fragile peace.

The Lebanese Army has not been deployed along the border for more than 30 years. Israel ended its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in the year 2000, and the Shi'ite-dominated south has been under the de facto control of Hezbollah since then.

In a newly reopened butcher shop on the south edge of Tyre, customer Hatem Besma predicted no problems.

He says, "This is our army - our people, our brothers and our friends." And he says the people of the south will support them.

Lebanese soldiers atop armoured personnel carriers ride in convoy⁶ to be deployed, after their arrival by navy transport, background left, at the port in Tyre, Lebanon, August 17, 2006   
  
In order for the deployment to proceed, the Lebanese government had to strike a deal on how to handle Hezbollah's weapons, at least for the time being. The compromise is that the militant⁷ group will not disarm⁸, but will keep its arms hidden. The information minister says the army will be the only armed force in south Lebanon, but will not confront Hezbollah or try to disarm it.

Buying a package of ground beef, Hatem Besma said that was fine with him.

He says, "If the army comes and takes up positions down here, then we will not need our weapons."

The Lebanese Army troops and a strengthened U.N. peacekeeping force are supposed to keep the Shi'ite militant group from threatening Israel. Israel has said that one of the goals of its 34-day military offensive was pushing Hezbollah back from the border.

But locals say the militant group - known here as "the resistance" - is an integral part of the Shi'ite community here and cannot really be pushed back. Tyre resident Mohamed Jafr was standing⁹ outside the butcher shop, watching U.N. peacekeepers manning a checkpoint and waiting for the army to arrive.

He says, "The resistance is not going anywhere. They will still be here. They will be underground, and will come out when needed."

As the army moved into the south, Hezbollah militants¹⁰ seemed to have melted away. Their weapons were nowhere to be seen, and even their signature two-way radios seemed to have disappeared.

But just 12 hours earlier, in the border village of Aaitaroun on Wednesday evening, local Hezbollah fighters were in plain sight, still bearing their AK-47s and radios. They were standing openly on a rooftop, peering at an Israeli tank on a nearby hilltop through a large pair of old-fashioned Israeli military binoculars¹¹, probably left over from a previous war.

The Israelis were undoubtedly¹² peering back at them.

The fighters were unusually relaxed, and explained to several journalists that they were also keeping an eye on three houses down the street, where they said 147 Israeli soldiers were holed up. One of them had a small digital video camera, and he showed the reporters his footage of Israeli troops walking through the fields toward the houses a few hours earlier.

Although many of the Hezbollah militants who have been battling Israeli troops came to the border region from elsewhere, all of these men are from Aaitaroun, which is about three kilometers from the border. They have no intention of leaving their homes, which means that despite Israel's efforts, Hezbollah militants will still be on the border - even if they are no longer wearing uniforms or openly carrying weapons.

1 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

2 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

5 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

6 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

7 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

8 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

12 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。