Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, was visiting the bomb-devastated south of Lebanon today as he attempts to convince both Israel and Hezbollah to implement the Middle East ceasefire agreement.

Mr Annan is pressing Israel to lift its sea and air blockade on Lebanon, while also calling for Hezbollah to free two Israeli soldiers whose capture in July sparked the escalation of violence.

This morning Mr Annan flew in by helicopter to the UN peacekeeping base in the Mediterranean port of Naqura. He was due to meet UN commanders and then later visit the border with Israel.

After talks with the Lebanese government and Hezbollah yesterday, Mr Annan warned that UN Resolution 1701 to end the month-long conflict was a complete package, and stressed that both parties could not cherry-pick which particular terms to observe.

Mr Annan said: "It is a fixed menu, it’s not a buffet, it’s not a smorgasbord, it’s not an a la carte menu where you choose and pick.

"We are entering the stage of recovery and reconstruction, we have a chance to have a long-term ceasefire."

Mr Annan said there was a great risk of the fighting being resumed if the agreement was not enforced in full.

He was due to arrive in Israel tonight, before having talks in Syria and Iran, during his 11-day trip mission to establish a long-term peace.

Israeli air strikes and artillery shells have left much of southern Lebanon in ruins, as well as killing many hundreds of civilians, while Hezbollah rockets caused significant damage in northern Israel.

Mr Annan said: "We are working for the lifting of the siege, I am discussing it with the Israeli authorities, I hope there will be some movements on this in the not-too-distant future."

Meanwhile, an Italian task force of ships gathered off the coast of southern Italy this morning to carry troops and aircraft to boost the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

The Turkish government has also decided to send peacekeepers and its parliament will convene to debate the deployment later this week.

EU nations have pledged 7,000 troops but the entire force is made up of around 30 different countries.

The full implementation of the August 14 ceasefire requires an Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon and a deployment of the Lebanese army and reinforced UN peacekeepers.

Hezbollah has been dominant in southern Lebanon, and until now has remained outside government control since Israel ended its 22-year occupation in May 2000. Now, however, Lebanese troops are now deploying there for the first time in four decades, with orders to confiscate Hezbollah weapons carried openly, and to enforce an embargo on arms being smuggled to the Shia military and political group across the Syrian border.

Mr Annan has called for the disarmament of all militias but also stressed it was not the duty of the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon to rid Hezbollah of its weapons.

The UN Secretary-General encountered hostility from a Shia crowd in Beirut yesterday which chanting pro-Hezbollah slogans as he toured the militant group's strongholds in the devastated southern suburbs.

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