The U.N. is trying to assemble a 15,000-strong international force in southern Lebanon, to keep the peace alongside a similar sized Lebanese contingent which is gradually being unfolded.

The New York-based body already has 2,000 soldiers in the area and, under the terms of Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the war, has committed itself to getting another 3,500 there by September 2.

But so far, few countries have made significant commitments. Some have complained that the rules of engagement under which their soldiers would operate are ill-defined.

Vijay Nambiar, a U.N. envoy traveling with Roed-Larsen, said he hoped those rules would be set "in the next few days."

"We expect that that will generate interest among the major troop contributing countries to commit troops in more concrete terms," Nambiar told reporters in Beirut.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called for Italy to lead the U.N. force, his office said in a statement.

The call was made in a telephone conversation between Olmert and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and indicated Italy's chances of leading the force had increased following France's apparent reluctance to commit more than 200 additional troops to Lebanon.

"It is important that Italy should lead the international force and send troops to also oversee the Lebanon-
Syria border crossings," the statement said.

EXPANDED FORCE

France has pledged to send only 200 extra troops to Lebanon, disappointing Washington and the United Nations, which had hoped the French contingent would form the backbone of an expanded U.N. force.

A Lebanese government source said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora spoke to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi about the international force.

"They (Italy) have a positive readiness and are more enthusiastic than other parties but the discussions need more calls with the Italians and the French," the source said.

A senior Lebanese political source said 2,500 Italian soldiers would take part in the U.N. force. He said the Lebanese cabinet would meet on Monday and welcome the Italian initiative.

The U.N. envoys said they also planned to discuss Israel's air and sea embargo of Lebanon, imposed at the start of the war and still in place, despite the end of hostilities.

"The embargo is, of course, totally unhelpful to the living conditions and the economy of Lebanon," Roed-Larsen said.

However, he also said he recognized Israel's concern that the embargo was necessary to stop weapons being smuggled across the Lebanese border to Hizbollah.

The Israelis say the Shi'ite Muslim group is supplied with arms by both Iran and Syria, charges both countries deny.

Nambiar said he and Roed-Larsen expected to address the vexed question of prisoners with the Israelis.

Israel and the U.N. are demanding the unconditional release of two Israeli soldiers, whose seizure by Hizbollah guerrillas on July 12 sparked the war.

Hizbollah says Israel will have to negotiate their release in exchange for Lebanese and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails.

"I dare say that as we proceed to our next place (Jerusalem), this will be an important issue that we will address," Nambiar said, adding it had been discussed extensively with the Lebanese government.

The uneasy truce in Lebanon has been tested over the past two days by an Israeli raid in the eastern Bekaa Valley which the U.N. said was a violation of resolution 1701.

Israel said the raid was defensive and designed to disrupt weapons supplies to Hizbollah. It denied it had violated the U.N. resolution -- which allows it to act in self-defence -- and accused Hizbollah of doing so by smuggling weapons.

The Lebanese government vowed on Sunday to crush any attempt on the Lebanese side of the border to break the truce, saying anyone attacking Israel would be considered a traitor.

"The army will be very tough in dealing with such an issue," Lebanese Defense Minister Elias al-Murr told a news conference.

"Any rocket fired from Lebanon will benefit Israel," he said, suggesting such an incident would provide a pretext for the Jewish state to attack Lebanon.

The statement said that according to UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, "there have also been several air violations by Israeli military aircraft."

"All such violations of Security Council resolution 1701 endanger the fragile calm that was reached after much negotiation and undermine the authority of the government of Lebanon," the statement said.

Annan called on all parties concerned to "respect strictly the arms embargo, exercise maximum restraint, avoid provocative actions and display responsibility in implementing resolution 1701," the statement said.

Annan also demanded daily reports about compliance with the truce be provided to the Security Council, the statement added.

The Israeli army confirmed that Israeli commandos launched a raid on a Hezbollah stronghold near the Bodai village in eastern Lebanon early Saturday to prevent weapons from being transferred to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria.

The army said the raid, which it termed as a "defensive" one, left one Israeli officer dead and two soldiers wounded. There is no immediate information about Hezbollah casualties in the raid.

It was the first time that Israel launched a formal military attack deep inside Lebanon since the UN-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Monday.

Israel denied it had violated the UN resolution, which allows it to act in self-defense, and in turn accused Lebanon of breaching the truce by smuggling weapons.

Olmert also ruled out peace talks with Syria as long as it supports "terror organizations.'' Earlier Monday, a top government official suggested it was time to resume talks with Syria despite its support for Hezbollah.

With concern mounting over the fragile truce, Israel sent war planes Monday over the coastal city of Tripoli, some 60 kilometres north of Beirut, and over Baalbek, scene of an Israeli commando raid two days ago which Israel said was to interdict weapons shipments for Hezbollah from Syria.

Lebanon considers overflights as violations of the UN resolution that ended 34 days of fighting last week.

Defence Minister Elias Murr said he was confident that Hezbollah would hold its fire but warned Syrian-backed Palestinian militants against rocket attacks which might draw Israeli retaliation and re-ignite full-scale fighting.

"We consider that when the resistance (Hezbollah) is committed not to fire rockets, then any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel to provide a pretext (for Israel) to strike,'' he said.

Israel has long accused Syria, along with Iran, of arming and supporting Hezbollah. During the war, however, Israel avoided trying to draw Syria into the conflict, apparently fearing another front or closing peace options.

On Monday, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Israel should resume the negotiations that broke down in 2000.

"What we did with Egypt and Jordan is also legitimate in this case,'' Dichter told Israeli Army Radio. Asked if that meant Israel should withdraw to its international border with Syria, he said: "Yes.''

But Olmert ruled out talks with the Syrians unless they stop sponsoring "terror organizations.''

"I recommend not to get carried away with any false hopes,'' Olmert said Monday, during a tour of northern Israel. "When Syria stops support for terror, when it stops giving missiles to terror organizations, then we will be happy to negotiate with them ... We're not going into any negotiations until basic steps are taken which can be the basis for any negotiations.''

Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel had other things on its mind right now and "that at the moment, we can't take on too much.

"We have the burden of Lebanon and we have the negotiations with the Palestinians,'' Peres told Israel Radio. "I don't think a country like ours can deal with so many issues at a time.''

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Lebanon has begun deploying 15,000 soldiers to the south, putting a government force in the region for the first time in four decades. They are to be joined by an equal force of international peacekeepers, but wrangling among countries expected to send troops has so far delayed assembly of the force.

But the reluctance of European countries to commit substantial numbers of troops has raised doubts about whether the truce can hold.

France, which commands the existing UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, had been expected to make a significant new contribution that would form the backbone of the expanded force. But President Jacques Chirac disappointed the UN and other countries last week by merely doubling France's contingent of 200 troops.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he has called for a meeting of European Union diplomats in Brussels this week to "find out as rapidly as possible what the different European partners plan to do concerning Lebanon.''

Douste-Blazy indicated more European troops could be sent later, once the UN has clarified the mandate of the force, including the rules of engagement.

In Beirut, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a Sunni Muslim, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite and Hezbollah supporters, decried the destruction wrought by Israeli bombs as "crimes against humanity'' during a highly publicized tour of the devastated guerrilla stronghold in the south of the capital Sunday.

"What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed ... there is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel's hatred to destroy Lebanon and its unity,'' Saniora said to a big crowd of reporters and television crews invited on the tour of the region where Israeli air strikes destroyed whole neighbourhoods.

"I hope the international media transmits this picture to every person in the world so that it shows this criminal act, this crime against humanity,'' the western-backed prime minister said.

Arab League foreign ministers convened for an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss a plan to create a fund to rebuild Lebanon. But the meeting ended with no plan, but foreign ministers said a social and economic council would convene to discuss how to fund the rebuilding.

Diplomats said Arabs want to counter the flood of money that is believed to be coming from Iran to Hezbollah to finance reconstruction projects. An estimated 15,000 apartments were destroyed and 140 bridges hit by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, along with power and desalination plants and other key infrastructure.

"This is a war over the hearts and mind of the Lebanese, which Arabs should not lose to the Iranians this time,'' said a senior Arab League official, speaking on condition of because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has not said where the money would come from, but Iran, which helped create Hezbollah and is its strongest supporter, is widely believed to have opened its treasury for the rebuilding program.

Israeli warplanes roared over cities on Lebanon's northern Mediterranean coast and in the east along the border with Syria on Monday, after the Lebanese defence minister warned rogue Palestinian rocket teams against attacking Israel and provoking retaliation that could unravel an already shaky ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected participation in the international peacekeeping force by countries that don't have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, his office said Sunday. That would eliminate Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh -- among the only countries to have offered front-line troops for the expanded force.

Olmert also ruled out peace talks with Syria as long as it supports "terror organizations.'' Earlier Monday, a top government official suggested it was time to resume talks with Syria despite its support for Hezbollah.

With concern mounting over the fragile truce, Israel sent war planes Monday over the coastal city of Tripoli, some 60 kilometres north of Beirut, and over Baalbek, scene of an Israeli commando raid two days ago which Israel said was to interdict weapons shipments for Hezbollah from Syria.

Lebanon considers overflights as violations of the UN resolution that ended 34 days of fighting last week.

Defence Minister Elias Murr said he was confident that Hezbollah would hold its fire but warned Syrian-backed Palestinian militants against rocket attacks which might draw Israeli retaliation and re-ignite full-scale fighting.

"We consider that when the resistance (Hezbollah) is committed not to fire rockets, then any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel to provide a pretext (for Israel) to strike,'' he said.

Israel has long accused Syria, along with Iran, of arming and supporting Hezbollah. During the war, however, Israel avoided trying to draw Syria into the conflict, apparently fearing another front or closing peace options.

On Monday, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Israel should resume the negotiations that broke down in 2000.

"What we did with Egypt and Jordan is also legitimate in this case,'' Dichter told Israeli Army Radio. Asked if that meant Israel should withdraw to its international border with Syria, he said: "Yes.''

But Olmert ruled out talks with the Syrians unless they stop sponsoring "terror organizations.''

"I recommend not to get carried away with any false hopes,'' Olmert said Monday, during a tour of northern Israel. "When Syria stops support for terror, when it stops giving missiles to terror organizations, then we will be happy to negotiate with them ... We're not going into any negotiations until basic steps are taken which can be the basis for any negotiations.''

Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel had other things on its mind right now and "that at the moment, we can't take on too much.

"We have the burden of Lebanon and we have the negotiations with the Palestinians,'' Peres told Israel Radio. "I don't think a country like ours can deal with so many issues at a time.''

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Lebanon has begun deploying 15,000 soldiers to the south, putting a government force in the region for the first time in four decades. They are to be joined by an equal force of international peacekeepers, but wrangling among countries expected to send troops has so far delayed assembly of the force.

But the reluctance of European countries to commit substantial numbers of troops has raised doubts about whether the truce can hold.

France, which commands the existing UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, had been expected to make a significant new contribution that would form the backbone of the expanded force. But President Jacques Chirac disappointed the UN and other countries last week by merely doubling France's contingent of 200 troops.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he has called for a meeting of European Union diplomats in Brussels this week to "find out as rapidly as possible what the different European partners plan to do concerning Lebanon.''

Douste-Blazy indicated more European troops could be sent later, once the UN has clarified the mandate of the force, including the rules of engagement.

In Beirut, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a Sunni Muslim, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite and Hezbollah supporters, decried the destruction wrought by Israeli bombs as "crimes against humanity'' during a highly publicized tour of the devastated guerrilla stronghold in the south of the capital Sunday.

"What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed ... there is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel's hatred to destroy Lebanon and its unity,'' Saniora said to a big crowd of reporters and television crews invited on the tour of the region where Israeli air strikes destroyed whole neighbourhoods.

"I hope the international media transmits this picture to every person in the world so that it shows this criminal act, this crime against humanity,'' the western-backed prime minister said.

Arab League foreign ministers convened for an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss a plan to create a fund to rebuild Lebanon. But the meeting ended with no plan, but foreign ministers said a social and economic council would convene to discuss how to fund the rebuilding.

Diplomats said Arabs want to counter the flood of money that is believed to be coming from Iran to Hezbollah to finance reconstruction projects. An estimated 15,000 apartments were destroyed and 140 bridges hit by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, along with power and desalination plants and other key infrastructure.

"This is a war over the hearts and mind of the Lebanese, which Arabs should not lose to the Iranians this time,'' said a senior Arab League official, speaking on condition of because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has not said where the money would come from, but Iran, which helped create Hezbollah and is its strongest supporter, is widely believed to have opened its treasury for the rebuilding program.

A contingent of 49 French soldiers landed in the south Saturday, providing the first reinforcements for the 2,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL that has been stationed in the region for years. About 200 more were expected next week.

They were the first additions to what is intended to grow into a 15,000-soldier U.N. force to police the truce with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. France leads UNIFIL and already had 200 soldiers in Lebanon before the reinforcements.

But with Europe moving slowly to provide more troops, Israel warned it would continue to act on its own to enforce an arms embargo on the Lebanese guerrilla group until the Lebanese army and an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force are in place.

"If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hezbollah in violation of the resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active ... then such Israeli activity will become superfluous."

The Bush administration has agreed to an Israel demand that a loan guarantee deal be extended by an additional three years, until 2011.

The Congress needs to approve the move.

Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson said the administration's conceding to Israel's request underscores Washington's faith in Israeli economy.

In 2003, the United States approved a USD 9 billion aid package to Israel in the form of loan guarantees which allow Israel to borrow money on the international market for low interest rates.

Israel has used less than half of the fund leaving USD 4.6 billion in available cash.

Finance Minister Director General Yossi Bachar discussed the extension of the loan period with US Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M. Kimmit.

Hirchson praised the Administration for expressing faith in Israel's economy.

Bachar will leave for New York on Wednesday where he will present to officials and investors the Israeli government's fiscal plans after the war in the north.

Nash was one of three Canadian parliamentarians who toured the Lebanese war zones with the National Council on Canada-Arab relations. She was joined on the trip by Etobicoke Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj and Bloc Québécois member Maria Mourani on a fact-finding mission to the war-ravaged towns of Qana, Bint Jbeil and Aytaroun.

The trip would have been an all-party affair, but Conservative MP Dean del Mastro pulled out at the last moment.

"It's hard to know what to say," Nash told CBC News as she toured the devastated towns. "It's overwhelming."

They met residents who had lost their family in the Israeli airstrikes last month, and offered their condolences to the Shalhoub family, which included most of the 29 Qana victims.

They went to Aytaroun, where the Canadian al-Akhras family was caught in the conflict and eight people died.

MP 'ashamed to be Canadian'

"I'm ashamed to be a Canadian," said Wrzesnewskyj, saying Harper favoured the Israeli position too much. "Canada should send in peacekeepers," he said, and Canada should allow dialogue with the political wing of Hezbollah.

"We don't want to see any more terrorism, whether the terrorism of suicide bombers or launching rockets or state terrorism. This is state terrorism," he said pointing to the bomb craters behind him.

Both Mourani and Wrzesnewskyj referred to Israel's "crimes against humanity," and criticized Harper for "condoning human massacres."

But on Sunday, a spokesman for the Israeli government repeated earlier statements that the action was defensive. Isaac Herzog, who is a member of the security cabinet as well as Israel's tourism minister, said the raid was meant to disrupt arms deliveries from Syria while efforts continue to form a UN peacekeeping force to enforce the truce.

"As you know all too well, some of the major proponents of the resolution, such as France, have not yet delivered on a robust international force, as was promised to Israel," Herzog told reporters.

"Therefore, we are focusing on making sure that the arrangements regarding the embargo on arms to the Hezbollah from Iran and Syria will be fully implemented. That's why I beg to differ with the honourable secretary general on his comments."

The raid, which took place outside the village of Boudai, left at least one Israeli soldier and three Hezbollah fighters dead.

France uneasy about UN force

The ceasefire agreement included promises that 15,000 Lebanese troops and a 15,000-member UN force would be deployed to guard the peace in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been operating unchecked for years.

France - along with the United States - was the driving force behind the ceasefire resolution. However, it has pledged only 200 troops for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), far fewer than what Washington and the United Nations were expecting.

The French government has indicated it could send more soldiers if the UN spells out a stronger mandate to allow UNIFIL members to defend themselves. The UN wants at least 3,500 UNIFIL soldiers on the ground by Aug. 28.

France said it had asked Finland, which holds the presidency of the European Union, to call a meeting of the EU member states to discuss Lebanon. A Finnish official told Reuters that the EU's political and security committee would meet on Wednesday.

No new clashes were reported on Sunday, but Israel sent reconnaissance flights over Lebanon as it continued to withdraw some of the estimated 30,000 troops it sent into the country after the conflict started on July 12.

Rockets from Lebanon 'will benefit Israel,' Beirut warns

Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr on Sunday warned militias - belonging to either Hezbollah or Palestinian groups - not to give Israel reason to strike again.

"Any rocket fired from Lebanon will benefit Israel," he said at a news conference. "The army will be very tough in dealing with such an issue."

Murr said any such attacks would be considered "as direct collaboration with the Israeli enemy," adding that those responsible "will be tried and referred to a military tribunal."

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, meanwhile, toured the devastated neighbourhoods of south Beirut, decrying the destruction by Israeli bombs as a "crime against humanity."

Despite expectations that France would provide the bulk of a planned 15,000 strong UN force, Paris said Thursday it would send 200 troops to reinforce the UN mission in Lebanon.

While it said France was prepared to command the enlarged force, it also called for safety guarantees for its soldiers before making further commitments.

The enlarged peacekeeping force is the keystone in UN Resolution 1701, which outlines the ceasefire and a deployment of Lebanese and international troops to the south of the country to fill the vacuum left by withdrawing Israeli units.

Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita said: "France made a huge diplomatic effort so that resolution 1701 could be voted. Now it's France that is holding up the application of this resolution."

It said that "Paris does not want its soldiers to run the risk of being caught in the crossfire, with Hezbollah militants on one side and the Israeli army on the other".

Italian newspaper La Repubblica, said France had discovered "that it was afraid" while La Stampa said that Paris and Rome "fear another Bosnia".

Many potential contributors to the force, including France, have expressed concern over the role their soldiers will play and have sought assurances from the United Nations and Lebanon on the conditions of the deployment.

Defending the government's decision, leftwing French newspaper Libération said France was right to demand a clearer mandate before sending more troops.

"When a country such as France is to commit thousands of men for years to a situation that has everything in place to become a quagmire, it's better to have a clear mission. Chirac is in his right to demand a minimum of ambiguities," it said.

In a similar vein, conservative French newspaper Le Figaro said: "This is a highly dangerous mission. If France volunteered to lead it's because it's an opportunity to make a comeback in the Middle East, where (France) has been sidelined by American unilateralism.

"However, the rest of the world cannot step aside and leave France holding the hot potato alone with a help from a few Europeans and the inevitable blue helmets from Fiji."

But Spanish newspaper El Mundo warned that caution could cost the force its effectiveness.

"The reticence shown by France to provide the majority of the 15,000 blue helmets could slow the deployment", it said.

While taking a broader European view, Spanish newspaper El Pais echoed a similar warning, saying that "European countries' doubts about the complexity and the risk of the UN mission in southern Lebanon endanger the deployment of the 15,000 troops."

France, which currently commands the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), has so far offered 200 more troops to the deployment meant to help the Lebanese army police a buffer zone near the southern border with Israel.

That number, given by Chirac late Thursday, would add to the 200 French troops already in UNIFIL, but fall far short of the 2,000-4,000 soldiers France had been expected to send.

In his conversation with Merkel, Chirac stressed "the importance of specifying as far as possible the missions, the rules of engagement, the chain of command and the means of this force," a presidential spokesman said.

He also "insisted on a necessary balance in the distribution of the contingents which must reflect the engagement of all the international community, including the European countries," the spokesman said.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, unanimously adopted last week, gives a mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to swell from its current level of 1,990 troops to 15,000 as Israeli forces withdraw from the region.

The UN is hoping to send a first deployment within 10 to 15 days, of between 3,000 and 3,500 soldiers.

Several countries, notably Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey, have expressed willingness to contribute troops.

France has suggested that 1,700 navy and air servicemen currently involved in operations off the coast of Lebanon could support UNIFIL, but only under French and not UN command.

Merkel on late Thursday ruled out sending ground troops to join UNIFIL, but said Germany could send a "maritime protection component" and provide logistics, air transport and reconnaissance, depending on what rules of engagement are agreed upon.

France was instrumental in drafting UN resolution 1701 but failed in its bid to have the text include language invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which would have permitted military action to be used to enforce compliance of the resolution.

Paris is concerned that the force to be deployed will not be robust enough or be permitted to oblige both Israel and Hezbollah to abide by the resolution without a strong mandate.

It is particularly conscious of its last peacekeeping effort in Lebanon, which came to an end after suicide bombings in 1983 killed 58 French soldiers and 241 US Marines in Beirut. Washington attributed the attacks to Hezbollah.