IBL EL-SAQI, Lebanon (AP):
Israel grabbed strategic high ground in south Lebanon yesterday but delayed a new ground offensive toward the Litani River, as diplomats said the United Nations had made progress toward constructing a ceasefire agreement that could go to a vote before the weekend.
Israel lost one soldier in fierce battles with Hezbollah guerrillas, and the Lebanese Interior Minister said Israel forces detained 350 Lebanese soldiers and police in their garrison in the southern city of Marjayoun. Israel denied the report.
PROGRESS
With fighting in its fifth week and Israeli troops closer to Beirut than at any time since the war began, reports emerged of progress toward unlocking the stalemate on a United Nations cease-fire resolution. At the United Nations, United States Ambassador John Bolton said there could be a vote by today.
"We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French," he said.
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora met twice yesterday with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, and a senior aide to the Lebanese leader, who spoke on the customary condition of anonymity, said new ideas for ending the fighting involved combining two envisioned resolutions into one overarching document.
A similar report arose in Israel where lawmaker Otniel Schneller, an adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the United Nations was at work on a new approach.
"A new proposal is being drafted, which has positive significance that may bring the war to an end," Schneller said.
Broadly speaking, a much-debated U.S.-French plan called for establishing a ceasefire in one document, with a second and later resolution that would organise a peacekeeping force and outline details of the peace.
Israeli officials said they were temporarily holding back to give diplomats time to craft the ceasefire deal.
