The coordination meeting to finalize the schedule for the last few hundred Israeli soldiers to withdraw was held in a villa at a secret location in Naqura on the border, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said.
In Jerusalem, defense minister Amir Peretz told reporters that Israel now hoped to bring its troops home "during this week, or at the latest several days later," after he addressed parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee. "We are prepared for the exit," following a UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect six weeks ago, he said.
"There are agreements and negotiations that we intend to complete in order to set the rules on what is allowed and what is not allowed along the 'Blue Line'," he said, referring to the UN-demarcated border.
A committee member said that they were told that the elusive withdrawal would be completed by this "Friday or the beginning of next week."
Meanwhile UNIFIL's commander, General Alain Pellegrini of France, said after what he termed a "constructive" meeting in Naqura that the Israeli withdrawal could still go ahead by Saturday. "It is my belief that with the necessary cooperation by both parties we should see the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] leave south Lebanon by the end of this month," he said.
Israel had initially said that the pullout, after a two-month occupation of border areas, would be completed by September 22. But it was delayed until after last weekend's Jewish New Year holidays.
The fresh delay was because "the Israeli army has not yet reached agreement with UNIFIL on rules of engagement for the peacekeepers and the Israeli army in case of violations of the ceasefire agreement," Peretz was quoted as saying.
Tuesday's was the sixth such weekly encounter, held without handshakes or even exchanged glances, since an August 14 ceasefire after the devastating month-long war between Israel and Shiite guerrillas of Hezbollah.
A UNIFIL official said Monday that Israeli troops were still occupying 10 positions in the south of the country.
They remain in zones stretching from Yarin in the eastern sector to Kfarkila in the center, said French Major Philippe Lebrat, the military assistant to Pellegrini. "There are no obstructions," Lebrat had said before the latest meeting.
Since the war, UNIFIL has been boosted to 5,000 troops and the Lebanese army has been deploying in the border area for the first time in almost four decades, in line with a UN ceasefire resolution and Israeli demands.
But Lebrat said that the ill-equipped Lebanese army was "not in a position" yet to take over territories controlled by Hezbollah, while Israel was "taking its time to consolidate its defenses."
According to Israeli media, military sources say that the air force will continue its overflights of Lebanon, especially as the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah July 12 - the incident that triggered the war - are still missing.
In the six years since the Jewish state ended a two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon, UNIFIL has repeatedly condemned Israel's illegal violations of Lebanese airspace.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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