Race to fill Lebanon vacuum

Hezbollah supporters are a stone's throw from Israel

The United Nations is urgently pressing to secure a safe border between Lebanon and Israel after the retreat of Israeli forces from south Lebanon.

UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen arrived in the Lebanese capital Beirut less than 24 hours after the last Israeli soldiers left the occupied land.

Both the Israelis, and the Hezbollah guerrillas who drove them out of Lebanon, have issued stern warnings about any cross-border aggression by the other side.

The speed of Israel's retreat - without the agreement of the UN or Lebanon - took the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) by surprise and has left a power vacuum filled by Hezbollah, and other militias.

The UN intends to mark the international border and confirm that Israel has completely withdrawn.

Hezbollah fighters are reported to have set up roadblocks across 1,000 sq km of territory and are busy rooting out suspected Israeli collaborators and collecting abandoned weapons.

"I believe that we all understand that the coming days will be decisive," Mr Larsen said on Wednesday night.

"Despite the generally positive developments, the cost in human life remains high," he added.

Volatile

The UN envoy said he would meet Lebanon's president and prime minister to discuss increasing the number of peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

Traditional celebrations are continuing in former occupied zone

In report on Monday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke of increasing Unifil from its present strength of 4,500 troops to 7,900 to "calm the situation".

Lebanese government forces are also expected to take up positions along the border.

But Lebanese army commander General Michel Sleiman said his troops would never become "Israel's border guards".

"There will not be any kind of security arrangements with the enemy outside the framework of a just and comprehensive peace," General Sleiman said in a written order.

For the first time on Wednesday, Hezbollah troops stood facing their Israeli enemies across the international border.

Barak has won admiration for pulling out the troops

There was no more violence, but observers said it was a highly volatile situation which could explode at any time.

An emotional Ehud Barak, the Israeli prime minister, told a news conference that the withdrawal marked a joyful day but also a painful day, because of the hundreds of Israeli soldiers "who did not return".

He also warned that any future attack on Israeli soil would be regarded as "an act of war".

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Israeli sappers have dynamited an evacuated outpost at the eastern end of the border, close to the potential flashpoint of the Shebaa farms.

President Lahhoud made a first tour of the liberated area

An army spokeswoman declined to say whether the outpost, known as Astra, was the last Israeli stronghold left in Lebanon.

The area around Shebaa is claimed by Lebanon, but Israel has remained in occupation, saying any withdrawal would be negotiated with Syria, which it says is the rightful owner.

Hezbollah leader Shaikh Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to continue fighting until Israeli troops withdraw from the area and released Lebanese citizens held captive in Israel.

SLA 'betrayed'

While Israel's Lebanese enemies have been celebrating the end of a 22-year-long occupation, many members of Israel's locally-recruited militia, the now-defunct SLA, have been settling down in transit camps and holiday resorts in northern Israel.

Gen Lahd's villa in Marjayoun has been ransacked

SLA men heckled their former commander, Antoine Lahd, when he surfaced in Metulla on Wednesday.

"Where have you been? You betrayed us," former militia shouted at the general, who had flown to Israel from France just before the final collapse of his militia which precipitated Israel's lightning retreat.

Mr Lahd said the withdrawal had been illogical, unreasonable and had humiliated his soldiers, according to a report on Voice of Israel radio.