Australia warns of Lebanon 'suicide mission'

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would support a major multinational force for Lebanon to disarm Hizbollah, but his Foreign Minister said that without a ceasefire it would be a "suicide mission".

"If the world community is serious, it will put together a force of tens of thousands.

"That force will act as an effective buffer, and it will have the power and the will to disarm Hizbollah," Mr Howard told Australian radio yesterday.

Senior international diplomats at a Rome conference on Wednesday agreed troops under a UN mandate were needed to bring peace to Lebanon, but failed to call for an immediate ceasefire in the 16-day conflict between Israel and Hizbollah.

Israel launched a heavy air and artillery bombardment of south Lebanon yesterday after nine Israeli soldiers, one an Australian-Israeli, were killed in the Jewish state's worst 24 hours for casualties in the conflict.

"I think there is no point in sending any international peacekeeping force on a suicide mission," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

"It's only in the environment of a peace settlement you can send in peacekeepers. Otherwise you are going to send them into a path of destruction," Mr Downer said.

Australia has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, with about 1,400 defence personnel currently serving in the Middle East. Australia, a strong ally of the United States, has backed Israel's right to defend itself against Hizbollah, which has killed more than 400 Lebanese and 51 Israelis.

"It is very important that Australians appreciate no matter how affronted we are by what Israel is doing, they are dealing with Hizbollah and Hamas who are committed to the abolition of Israel as a state," Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said.

Australia said it would withdraw 12 soldiers from southern Lebanon, sent to help evacuate Australians, because of the ongoing conflict Mr Nelson said about 11 Australians serving as UN observers in Lebanon would remain at their posts, including those stationed in southern Lebanon, where four UN observers were killed in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday.

"There is quite a degree of risk to everybody in the south of Lebanon, not withstanding the efforts of the Israelis to target their attacks on Hizbollah sites," Mr Nelson said.

Australian government officials confirmed an Australian fighting with Israeli forces was among the nine Israelis killed in fighting against Hizbollah in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.