UN says Israelis to leave Lebanon by end of month

Lebanese children ride a bicycle near a building destroyed during the recent conflict in Beirut. Picture / Reuters

BEIRUT - A UN commander has said Israeli troops should be out of south Lebanon within days, but Israeli media said a full withdrawal could be delayed after a meeting with the UN peacekeepers did not reach full agreement.

Israeli forces have gradually been pulling out of territory they captured during a 34-day war with Hizbollah guerrillas that ended with a truce on August 14. Israeli and Lebanese officers met with the commander of the UN peacekeeping force at the border on Tuesday to discuss the continued withdrawal.

"It is my belief that with the necessary cooperation by both parties we should see the (Israeli army) leave south Lebanon by the end of this month," UN force commander Major General Alain Pellegrini said in a statement after the meeting.

But Israel's Channel One television said that disagreements at the meeting over the disarming of Hizbollah in southern Lebanon meant a withdrawal could be delayed beyond the weekend.

Asked about the report, Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN force, said the peacekeepers had not been informed of any delay in the Israeli withdrawal.

"We have not been informed about any delays or timetables but it has been made clear by the (U.N.) force commander that he expects the process to be finalised by the end of the month," Ivanko said.

Rules of engagement

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said earlier on Tuesday that Israel hoped to complete its withdrawal soon but that this would depend on agreement being reached with the UN force on rules of engagement.

"I hope very much that during the coming week, at the most a few more days, we will complete the withdrawal," Peretz said.

"There are arrangements, negotiations (and) deliberations which we intend to complete in order to set the rules -- what is permitted and what is forbidden," he told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel would withdraw once it was convinced that the terms of UN resolution 1701 that ended the war would be observed.

"We have no desire or intention to prolong our stay in Lebanon, and the minute it is understood that the other relevant parts of 1701 will also be fulfilled, then of course Israel will be ready to pull out," he said.

"Resolution 1701 specifically calls for a total arms embargo to prevent arms reaching Hizbollah (and) the total elimination of an armed Hizbollah presence south of the Litani River, and we're hopeful that the Lebanese government and the international forces will be acting to provide those conditions to make the Israeli withdrawal expeditious."

Israel has so far handed over around 90 per cent of that territory to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is beefing up its numbers to monitor the truce.

Israeli officials said earlier in the month they hoped to pull out all troops by last weekend, but this was delayed while discussions with UNIFIL continued.

"There are going to be all these international forces who speak different languages," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "They will all be under UNIFIL but there is a question of their coordination with the Lebanese army and their coordination with Israeli army.

"These rules of engagement entail who does what -- do you call the Lebanese army, the Israeli army -- what is going to be done."

The UN resolution authorises up to 15,000 UNIFIL troops to join a similar number of Lebanese army troops who are being deployed in the south as part of the ceasefire.

Around 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed in the fighting that started on July 12 when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

(Additional reporting by Lin Noueihed and Yara Bayoumy in Beirut and the Jerusalem bureau)

- REUTERS