BEIJING, Sept. 7 -- The Israeli government says it will lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon on Thursday evening. The announcement was made on Wednesday... following international pressure to stop the embargo because of a current cease-fire.

    International forces will replace the Israelis at command positions over Lebanese seaports and airports.

    Israeli Government Spokesperson Miri Eisin said, tomorrow at 6pm Israel will stop the naval blockade with the arrival of naval forces from the international community. They will arrive gradually and at the same time we will stop the aerial blockade of flights into Lebanon with the arrival of German forces who will be in the airport implementing the embargo supervising mainly the cargo which arrives into Beirut International Airport.

    U.N. officials said they expected Germany to lead a contingent of naval ships that will likely to include vessels from other countries. They said French, Italian, Greek and British naval ships would form an interim deployment.

    U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered the end of the blockade.

    Shortly after the announcement, Lebanon said it had formally asked Annan to authorize the deployment of German naval ships to monitor the Lebanese coast.

    In a sign the end of the embargo was imminent, British Airways said it was resuming direct flights to Beirut after the British government gave assurances it would be safe to do so.

    Israel imposed the blockade shortly after a 34-day war against the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah erupted on July 12th. Israel said the blockade was necessary to prevent new arms shipments to Hezbollah guerrillas.

    The announcement was an important breakthrough -- proving that Israel and Lebanon could work with the help of mediators to reach deals on contentious issues.

    (Source: CCTV.com)

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