More than 400 Lebanese soldiers backed by UN peacekeepers deployed Saturday for the first time in decades at posts on the volatile border with the Jewish state, as Israeli troops continued their gradual pullback from the area.
Israeli army chief Dan Halutz initially said the last troops would quit Lebanon by the end of last week. But Israel delayed the completion of its withdrawal until after the end of the Jewish New Year holidays Sunday.
It did not offer a new date for the final pullout but it is expected to be completed this week.
Israel said questions still had to be ironed out with the beefed-up UN peacekeeping force and the Lebanese army, both of which have been extending their deployment in southern Lebanon, devastated by a month of warfare that began July 12 with the seizure of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas.
The Lebanese army said Sunday that it had reinforced its positions along the border with tanks and armored vehicles, taking over some posts previously held by members of the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which came into force on August 14 and established a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after 34 days of fighting, set up a multi-national peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
Israel had said that it would complete its withdrawal once the UN force, which is eventually mandated to total up to 15,000 troops, had deployed 5,000 soldiers, a threshold that commanders say it has already reached.
The commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Alain Pellegrini, has said Israeli forces were expected to have pulled out completely behind the "Blue Line" demarcating the border by next Saturday.
An Israeli security source said that following "the smooth handover of control over two border zones near Rosh Hanikra and Kiryat Shmona this weekend, Israel will continue coordination with the UN over the remaining areas."
According to the source, all the remaining Israeli forces were concentrated in areas along the border.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr warned last week that his country will protest to the UN Security Council if Israel does not complete its troop pullout by next Friday. "If the withdrawal does not take place by next Friday, we will resort to the Security Council," he said.
Murr said UN, Lebanese and Israeli officers will hold a meeting in the border town of Naqura "to discuss the issue of the withdrawal."
He did not specify a date although UNIFIL is expected by Tuesday to organize a meeting of Israeli and Lebanese army officers to finalize the withdrawal.
Lebanese soldiers are deploying along the border with Israel for the first time since 1968 when Palestinian guerrillas held sway and southern Lebanon was known as "Fatahland," taking its name from the mainstream Palestine Liberation Organization faction.
Hezbollah took control of the border in 2000 when Israel withdrew its troops after more than two decades of occupation of mainly Shiite southern Lebanon.
More than 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon and 162 in Israel during the month-long war.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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