Tony Blair and President Bush vowed today to push for a UN resolution that would authorise the deployment of a UN "stabilisation force" for Lebanon.

Standing side by side at the White House after more than an hour of talks, both leaders still refused to call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict, presenting a united front against Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian backers.

The Prime Minister said: "We feel deeply for people in Lebanon and people in Israel who are the innocent casualties of this conflict, of course we do.

"And we want it to stop and we want it to stop now. And what we are putting forward today is actually a practical plan that would lead to a UN resolution, could be early next week, that will put in place the conditions for it to stop."

Mr Blair’s official spokesman said it was too early to say what the makeup of any international force would be, but potential troop contributors will meet at UN headquarters in New York on Monday.

The meeting will be chaired by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General. The United States will be represented by Nicholas Burns, the No 3 official in the State Department.

France, Italy, Turkey, and Indonesia have signalled their readiness to participate in a force. British officials said the force would not enter the zone until the violence had ended.

Mr Bush also announced that Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, will return to the Middle East tomorrow for talks on the conflict.

"Tomorrow, Secretary Rice will return to the region. She will work with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to seize this opportunity to achieve lasting peace and stability for both of their countries."

Foreign ministers from the 15 Security Council nations, including Ms Rice, have made tentative plans to gather in New York next week, possibly to adopt the proposed resolution.

Mr Blair, who is under pressure at home both publicly and from within his own Cabinet to call for a ceasefire in the fighting, said that what was happening in the Middle East was a "complete tragedy for Lebanon, Israel and the wider region."

Mr Blair said he wanted to see the conflict "stop now" and the peace plan would help that to happen. It was vital to resolve the underlying issues, he insisted.

Mr Bush said: "We agree that a multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly to augment the Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country.

"An effective multinational force will help speed delivery of humanitarian relief, facilitate the return of displaced persons and support the Lebanese Government as it asserts full sovereignty over its territory and guards its borders."

The President told a press conference that he and Mr Blair agreed the UN had to set a "clear framework for cessation of hostilities" in Lebanon "on an urgent basis".

"This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East," Mr Bush said, "yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for broader change in the region.

"In Lebanon, Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian sponsors are willing to kill and use violence to stop the spread of peace and democracy.

"They’re not going to succeed."

Mr Blair arrived at the White House this afternoon. Shortly beforehand, his spokesman claimed that the British Government was roughly in tune with Germany and France on the crisis. But President Jacques Chirac released a statement this afternoon demanding an immediate Israeli ceasefire.

Javier Solana, the European Union's most senior diplomat, said that he had talked to most of the members of the UN Security Council, and was hopeful that a resolution on an international force would be passed soon.

Its mandate would be to implement UN resolution 1559, which calls for Hezbollah and other such militias to be disbanded and for the Lebanese Government's authority to be extended over the whole country.

Hezbollah said this afternoon that it had fired a new, long-range Khaibar-1 rocket which has the capacity to reach deep into Israeli territory. The militant group claimed that the rocket had struck the town of Afoula, south of Haifa.

Israeli police confirmed that “at least one missile of unknown type” landed in Afula, just south of Nazareth. They said it was packed with a 100kg warhead and had range of 60 miles. In southern Lebanon, hundreds of Israeli air strikes and thousands of artillery rounds struck the area, killing 13 people.

Meanwhile representatives from Iran and Syria were also reported to be meeting in Damascus today to discuss their approach to the conflict.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, was expected to take part - as was President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, according to Kuwait’s Al-Siyassah newspaper, known for its opposition to the Syrian regime.

Aid for Lebanon's stricken south started arriving in the area on Wednesday, but agencies warn that it is proving impossible to guarantee the safety of convoys once they leave the warehouses in the southern port of Tyre.

One soldier with the UN mission in southern Lebanon, Unifil, who was with the first convoy to make it through to Rmeish yesterday, said that Israeli bombs often landed close to the line of aid trucks and Hezbollah fighters endangered them still further by using the convoys as cover to set up rocket launchers and fire at Israel, attracting return fire.

Polls in the Israeli morning press today suggest that 71 per cent of Israelis are in favour of intensifying their army's military onslaught on southern Lebanon. Nearly 1,600 Hezbollah rockets have been fired at Israel since the conflict started on July 12.

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