Israel's offer to Lebanon not enough

The French foreign minister, Hubert Vedrine, who began a tour of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan yesterday, has welcomed the Israeli proposal for withdrawal from Southern Lebanon but expressed reservations about its conditions.

Mr Vedrine said in Beirut, where he started his tour, that he was encouraged by Israel's first ever offer of adhering to the 1978 United Nations resolution, but said that it did not envisage any conditions for troops withdrawal.

Mr Vedrine's Lebanese counterpart, Fares Bweiz, said after meeting the French minister that the resolution four-two-five called for an unconditional and immediate Israeli pullout.

Israel's main foe in Southern Lebanon, the Islamic Hezbollah group, has already rejected an Israeli offer of withdrawal in exchange for firm border security guarantees.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service