US president George Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair have said they want an international force sent to Lebanon quickly but they have rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire. Denis Staunton in Washington and Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem.
The two leaders met in Washington after a day that saw Israeli forces kill at least 17 people in Lebanon and Hizbullah launch new, longer-range missiles at Israel.
Mr Bush and Mr Blair said the United Nations Security Council should consider a resolution authorising the international force next week. The security council meets on Monday to discuss the possible composition of such a force, which is likely to be led by European countries.
Mr Bush said the United Nations resolution should set out a "clear framework for cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis" and mandate the multinational force.
"This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East. Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for broader change in the region," he said.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice returns to the Middle East today for talks on how to end the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah. "Her instructions are to work with Israel and Lebanon to come up with an acceptable UN Security Council resolution that we can table next week," Mr Bush said.
The president said that Israel and Lebanon would have to agree to conditions before an international force could be deployed, adding that the UN-authorised force would not "fight its way in".
UN secretary general Kofi Annan said yesterday he would hold a meeting of potential troop contributors to the new force on Monday, while France called again for the UN to demand an immediate ceasefire based on a political agreement enabling an international force to deploy in southern Lebanon.
Due to the ferocity of current exchanges between Israeli forces and Hizbullah, the UN in Lebanon has decided to redeploy its small group of unarmed observers in the area. As part of the move, observers from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation group - including 17 Irish officers - will now be reassigned to urgent humanitarian work in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. They will also - where possible - conduct humanitarian assistance missions and patrols from Unifil headquarters in Naqoura.
Sources in the UN believe that Unifil headquarters in Naqoura - along with UN installations in Tyre - are in imminent danger from direct shelling or air assault from Israeli forces in retaliation for Hizbullah missile attacks believed to have been launched from adjacent areas in the last 24 hours.
Israel yesterday said its air force had knocked out Hizbullah's missile command centre in Tyre, which has been responsible primarily for targeting the northern Israeli city of Haifa, but Hizbullah said it had fired what it called the Khaibar-1 missile, striking an open field near the town of Afula, some 50km from Israel's northern border.
The strike came just 48 hours after Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah threatened to hit areas south of Haifa.
Israel continued its aerial and artillery bombardment in southern Lebanon. At least 17 people died in the strikes, bringing the death toll in Lebanon since fighting erupted 17 days ago to over 460, mostly civilians. A further 51 have been killed in Israel.
UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland asked for a 72-hour pause in the fighting to enable relief workers to evacuate the elderly, the young and the wounded from southern Lebanon and to send in emergency aid supplies.