LEBANON balked yesterday at a UN plan to call a halt to the fighting without an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

The vehemence of Lebanon’s rejection, reflecting Hezbollah’s hardline stance, took Western officials by surprise and threatened to derail proposals to end the conflict agreed by France and America.

Lebanese political leaders queued up to criticise the French-US draft resolution as Hezbollah announced that it would not stop firing rockets across the border until every Israeli soldier had pulled out.

Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese Prime Minister, telephoned Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and President Chirac of France to plead for changes, but was rebuffed.

Mohammed Fniesh, one of two Hezbollah ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet, insisted last night that the “resistance will continue to fight so long as a single Israeli soldier remains on Lebanese soil”.

Walid Mouallem, Syria’s Foreign Minister, visiting Lebanon for the first time since Damascus ended its 29-year occupation last year, described the UN deal as “a recipe for the continuation of war”.

But senior US officials predicted that the UN Security Council would press ahead and adopt a resolution as early as today calling for a “full cessation of hostilities” as the first step to a political settlement.

“I know Hezbollah has said all kinds of things. I’ve heard ‘We should have an immediate ceasefire’. I’ve heard ‘We’ll keep fighting,’ I’ve heard all of those things,” Dr Rice said. “When this resolution is passed, we’re going to know who really did want to stop the violence and who didn’t.”

Israel did not formally respond to the draft resolution, but officials said that it regarded it favourably. The resolution would not only permit its forces to remain in Lebanon until an international force takes over, but allow Israel to act in self-defence. Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “We have to make sure that what will be negotiated at the UN ensures that Hezbollah will not be re-supplied by Iran or Syria.”

Tony Blair spoke to President Bush by phone for 47 minutes and also had conversations with President Chirac and President Putin of Russia. The goal was “to secure the maximum amount of support for the UN resolution”, a British spokesman said.

Weeks of diplomatic deadlock were broken on Saturday when France and the US tabled a UN resolution calling for a truce to be followed by the creation of a militia-free buffer zone and the deployment of an international force.

The US-French draft called for “a full cessation of hostilities based upon the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations”.

The proposal envisages Israeli troops remaining in south Lebanon until a political agreement is reached to allow the Lebanese Army and a UN-mandated multinational force to move into a buffer zone free of Hezbollah guerrillas.

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