Minister Najib: ‘The government is doing everything in its power to remove any pretexts from the Israelis’ hands’ BEIRUT: Lebanon’s prime minister said Tuesday his country was ready to bolster the army’s presence in the south after any ceasefire, adding Israeli troops were making brief cross-border incursions. “Currently we have 4,500 soldiers in south Lebanon, and we wish to increase them to between 7,000 and 11,000,” Najib Mikati told AFP in an interview. As soon as a ceasefire is reached, “we can move soldiers” from other parts of the country to the south, he said. “The information we have is that there are brief (Israeli) incursions” into south Lebanon, he added. Israel said it had launched limited ground operations in neighboring Lebanon about two weeks ago. Mikati also said security had been tightened at the country’s only airport in Beirut, to remove any pretexts for an Israeli attack. “The government is doing everything in its power to remove any pretexts from the Israelis’ hands,” he said. He added that “tightened security has been in place for a week at the airport,” located near Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold that has seen intense Israeli bombardment. At the end of September, the Israeli military said it would not allow Iran to transfer weapons to its ally Hezbollah through Beirut airport and warned its warplanes were ready to intervene should any such transfers be detected. The airport was previously targeted during Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006, prompting concerns as Israel threatened to unleash destruction on Lebanon similar to Gaza, where it has been fighting a devastating year-long war. Lebanese Transport Ministry Ali Hamieh had previously denied Israeli accusations that Hezbollah was using the airport and border crossings to smuggle weapons.