Israeli pull-out from Lebanon accelerates

The Israeli cabinet has given the prime minister, Ehud Barak, full authority to decide how quickly to withdraw Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Within hours of the cabinet meeting, Israel Radio said the troops could all be withdrawn by the end of this month -- much sooner than expected after twenty-two years of occupation.

The decision came as Israel's militia allies, the South Lebanon Army, abandoned many of their positions, allowing Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese civilians into villages only a few kilometres from the Israeli frontier.

Israelis living close to the border were ordered into bomb shelters as a precaution against possible Hezbollah attacks. The United Nations Security Council has been meeting to discuss a plan to increase the number of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service