Lebanon to UN: Tell Israel to withdraw

United Nations: Lebanon asked the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Sunday to revise a draft resolution seeking an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas to include a demand for the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Lebanese foreign ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud gave the 15 council members an amendment calling for Israel to pull out of southern Lebanon, in addition to an end to hostilities.

Paris and Washington hope their resolution seeking an end to fighting can be adopted within a day or two.

But Lebanese officials have said it ignores their appeals for an immediate

cease-fire and a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, as called for in Beirut's seven-point peace plan.

''Lebanon, and all of Lebanon, rejects any resolution that is outside these seven points,'' Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah, said in Beirut.

The draft resolution calls for a ''full cessation of hostilities,'' based on ''the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations,'' leaving Israel able to conduct military operations it sees as defensive.

It also asks Israel and Lebanon to approve the major elements of an eventual peace settlement, which would include creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of any military forces except Lebanese and UN-mandated troops.

Mahmoud stopped short of saying Lebanon rejected the draft, saying ''It is not implementable.''

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, senior government officials and Israeli media said Israel viewed the draft favourably.

The government has not formally commented on it. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told cabinet ministers not to discuss it until the document was finalized, a political source said.

The resolution would be the first of two the council expects to adopt to deal with the violence that erupted July 12 when Hizbollah guerrillas crossed over into northern Israel and seized two Israeli soldiers.

The fighting is still raging and has killed more than 700 Lebanese and 78 Israelis.

The second measure, which council diplomats said yesterday would be expected in about two weeks, would cover plans for a permanent peace agreement and authorise the International force.

But US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley the US wanted a second resolution to be adopted in days rather than weeks, to help speed the deployment of peacekeepers.

Despite negative reactions from Lebanon and Hizbollah, most council members hope the resolution will at least subdue the

fighting and allow relief workers to gain access to people left isolated or driven from their homes by the fighting.