The proposed United Nations force in southern Lebanon will make little difference to Hizbollah's operational ability, UN officials admitted yesterday. Despite a two-year-old UN Security Council resolution demanding that all Lebanese militias give up their arms, no one expects government troops to enforce it. A UN official said: "A lot depends on the Lebanese army and their relationship with Hizbollah; on whether there is mutual tolerance and the Lebanese army is capable of pacifying Hizbollah by persuasion." That would mean eschewing weapons searches and allowing Hizbollah to maintain its military capabilities as long as it did not flaunt them. The aim is to have 15,000 international troops in place by the beginning of November to support an equal number of Lebanese soldiers, who continued to take up positions south of the Litani river yesterday. Italy has said it will contribute a contingent of 3,000 and President George W Bush said it was "urgent to quickly deploy an international force with robust rules of engagement". However, there is no likelihood that the international force will take on the task of disarming the militia. Most potential donors want to restrict their role to supporting the Lebanese and are wary of a mandate that authorises force. Such peacekeeping arrangements would be likely to antagonise the Israelis who are seeking a strongly-armed body that would keep Hizbollah in its place. There have already been warnings that they see their devastating but unsuccessful invasion as only the first round in a war that they intend to finish. UN officials are also concerned about threats made to the safety of Hizbollah leaders by the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, shortly after the passing of Security Council resolution 1701, which technically brought an end to the hostilities. "We will continue pursuing them anywhere, all the time and we do not intend to apologise or ask anyone's permission," Mr Olmert said. Hizbollah's leaders went underground at the start of the war and are still in hiding. Israeli efforts to bomb them out of existence failed. Security experts believe that any attempt to kill the head of Hizbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, whose prestige has increased dramatically since the war, would be a provocation that his militia could not ignore. UN officials believe that Hizbollah will not want to reignite the conflict, at least for a while. The organisation's culture of secrecy has disguised the true number of its casualties - funerals of "martyrs" are being staggered to soften the impact of the losses. Some were interred without ceremony for re-burial later. A UN official estimated the deaths at 500, 10 per cent of the force Hizbollah is thought to muster, not all of whom are front-line fighters. | 
