Halutz: IDF won't be out by New Year

By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF

The IDF will not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon before Rosh Hashana, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Wednesday, contradicting a statement he made Tuesday to the opposite effect.

"We hoped that the withdrawal would happen by Friday, but there are dialogues that need to continue with the Lebanese army and UNIFIL until after the holiday," Halutz told reporters during a toast for the New Year, which comes in on Friday night.

On Tuesday, Halutz told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that there would be no IDF troops left in Lebanon by this Friday, depending on an agreement that Lebanon, the IDF and the United Nations were likely to reach.

Otherwise, he said, the departure could be delayed for a week.

Halutz also responded on Wednesday to criticism from former IDF Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya'alon, saying, "I won't use the same turns of phrase as my predecessor. In my life, I never used the blood of soldiers to push my agenda, and I will not do this - and maybe that's all the difference."

Regarding Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah's fate, Halutz said, "I don't know what his fate will be - it doesn't depend on us."