The United Nations is to remain in south Lebanon to provide humanitarian assistance in the resettlement of Lebanese people who were forced out of the former Israeli-controlled area.
The Deputy Force Commander of UNIFIL, Brig Gen Jim Sreenan, yesterday said the verification of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon had already begun.
A team of cartographers from the UN headquarters in New York began the verification of the Israeli position against archive maps of the 1923 British-French mandate borders and the 1949 Armistice border, which was drawn up after the formation of the State of Israel.
Brig Gen Sreenan said there did not appear to be any significant remaining violations of the Lebanese border in UNIFIL's area of operations.
He anticipated that the verification of the Israeli-Lebanon border could be complete within weeks.
UNIFIL will then move its troops forward into the former Israeli-controlled area and establish posts closer to the border.
The UN force has significantly stepped up patrolling in the south of the country, mainly to reassure the local population and prevent ethnic violence.
Brig Gen Sreenan said the UN had not had any reports of any attacks by Islamic fighters.
There are signs that Hizbullah is in general maintaining a low profile in the south and keeping its weapons out of sight.
Asked about the future of UNIFIL, which has 4,500 troops from nine countries, Brig Gen Sreenan said negotiations were under way with the Lebanese authorities. It is understood they do not wish to deploy the country's troops up to the border until the area is fully settled.
He said: "We have already started extensive forward patrolling, day and night. After verification [of the Border] is complete we will move to the next phase, which will be the redeployment forward, moving into new positions."
He said there was "no time frame" for a UN withdrawal, although this would happen.
It is anticipated that as many as 150,000 people will return and the Lebanese government is expected to seek assistance to help with the resettlement.
UNIFIL has suffered 235 fatalities, 44 of them Irish. The last soldier to die as a result of hostile action was Pte Billy Kedian, from Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, who was killed by a mortar fired by the Israeli surrogate force, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) in June last year.
Brig Gen Sreenan said the Irish had suffered higher losses than other nationalities represented in UNIFIL.
"The reason for this is that we have been here significantly longer than other nationalities and our area of operations has been at the heart of the most difficult part of the UNIFIL area."