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As a truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas entered its second day on Tuesday, planning got underway for a beefed up UN peacekeeping force to back the Lebanese army when it deploys to the south.
Ground clashes, Israeli air strikes and Hizbollah rocket fire ceased on Monday as the fragile truce took hold, encouraging droves of Lebanese refugees to return to southern villages devastated by the month-long war.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was relieved that the cessation of hostilities demanded by a Security Council resolution adopted on Friday, "appears to be generally holding".
French military officers headed to the United Nations to discuss the boosted UN peacekeeping force France is expected to lead, UN and French officials said.
At a meeting on Monday of some 20 potential troop contributing countries, participants said that a concept of operations would be ready by Thursday at another session of interested nations, according to diplomats at the meeting.
"We have no formal, specific commitments from troop contributors, but obviously we're continuing those discussions," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "We have one leg up in that there is already a UN force in south Lebanon."
Lebanon's Defence Minister Elias Murr said the Lebanese army would send 15,000 troops to the north of the Litani River around the end of the week, ready to enter the southern border area.
But he said the army would not be disarming Hizbollah guerrillas, who have controlled the area for six years.
"The army is not going to the south to strip Hizbollah of weapons and do the work Israel did not," he told LBC Television.
"The resistance is co-operating to the utmost level so that as soon as the Lebanese army arrives in the south there will be no weapons but those of the army."
Strategic victory?
Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his fighters had won a "strategic and historic victory" over Israel and that it was the wrong time publicly to discuss disarming them.
But US President George Bush said Hizbollah, which is backed by Iran, had been defeated and accused the Islamic Republic of meddling in Lebanon and Iraq.
"In both these countries Iran is backing armed groups in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold," Bush said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is facing domestic pressure over his handling of the Lebanon war, told parliament Israel would pursue Hizbollah leaders "everywhere and any time".
The truce prompted tens of thousands of Lebanese who had fled the fighting to head south, choking bomb-damaged roads with their cars in spite of a warning from Israel not to return.
Ahmed Nassereddine arrived in the village of Shihabiyeh to find out that his building and petrol station had been destroyed by an Israeli air strike just 10 minutes before the truce.
"Thank God, we survived. Property can be replaced, souls can't," he said, holding back tears.
In northern Israel, soldiers returning from Lebanon were greeted with hugs and handshakes by their comrades. Streets became busier as residents emerged from homes and bomb shelters.
"I feel safer," said 12-year-old Johnny Wena, riding his bicycle through the streets of Metula.
Nasrallah said Hizbollah would immediately begin repairing homes damaged by Israeli strikes and would pay a year's rent and other costs to help the owners of about 15,000 destroyed houses.
Repairs
Annan urged the sides to consolidate the halt to hostilities and move swiftly to convert it to a lasting ceasefire.
The White House said border security would need to be tightened in Lebanon to block weapons deliveries to Hizbollah from Iran and Syria - both of which deny arming the guerrillas.
The UN resolution calls for a ban on arms supplies to groups in Lebanon, but does not say how it should be enforced.
An Israeli military source said an air and sea blockade of Lebanon would remain until the arms embargo was implemented.
About 1,110 people in Lebanon and 156 Israelis have been killed. Israel, which launched the war after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, says it killed 530 Hizbollah fighters. Hizbollah puts the toll at 80.
Thousands of Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon. Israel has said they will not withdraw fully until an expanded UN peacekeeping force arrives alongside Lebanese troops.
Under the resolution, Israeli forces must start to withdraw as UN peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers deploy in the south.
The commander of the exiting UN force, UNIFIL, met senior Lebanese and Israeli army officials at the border to discuss implementing the resolution.
Hizbollah has said it will co-operate with the Lebanese and UN troops, but has not promised to withdraw its fighters or disarm - even though it has accepted the UN resolution which says no unofficial armed group should be in the south.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz pledged a "wide and thorough" investigation of the war. Opinion polls show almost all Israelis supported it, but many criticise its handling.
