Israel wants new force to back Lebanese deployment

Israel wants a strong international force to join the 15,000 Lebanese troops that Beirut has decided to send to the south before it would agree to withdraw from Lebanese soil, a senior official said yesterday.

"It's a positive first step," the senior Israeli official said of Monday's unanimous decision by the Lebanese government, which includes two Hizbollah ministers, to deploy troops in south Lebanon as Israeli forces pull out of the territory.

But the official, who declined to be named, said the deployment would be "insufficient" for Israel unless the 15,000 Lebanese troops were backed up by a "strong stabilisation force" that has the mandate and ability to keep Hizbollah from moving back into southern Lebanon.

Western diplomats said the Lebanese government's decision to deploy troops in the south could mark a turning point in negotiations and lead to changes in a draft UN Security Council resolution seeking to end four weeks of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah.

"It's better than it was but there is still a big gap there," one diplomat said, adding that it was unclear if Hizbollah would agree to the deployment of an international force with an enforcement mandate and sufficient firepower.

Lebanon has said it was unhappy with the initial US-French draft resolution, demanding it include a call for the immediate withdrawal of Israel's 10,000 troops from southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese government said the army was willing to seek the help of a boosted UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. But it did not explicitly say whether Hizbollah would pull out of border areas. "The Lebanese army in itself is not capable of obtaining the goals," the senior Israel official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were still under way.

The official said proposals to expand the existing UN force in south Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, were unacceptable because that force is seen as weak by Israel.

"The question is whether this (Lebanese) force will be escorted by UNIFIL, which is an incompetent force, or whether this Lebanese force is supported by a strong stabilisation force and then Hizbollah is incapable of penetrating back with arms," the official said.

The south of the country has been under the virtual control of Hizbollah guerillas. They say they will ceasefire only once all Israeli soldiers leave Lebanese land.

Israel wants Hizbollah to be pushed north of the Litani River, about 20 kilometres from the border, in an effort to limit rocket attacks into northern Israel.