Jerusalem: Israel will not allow Lebanese troops to deploy within two kilometers of the Israeli border unless they are accompanied by UN forces, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz's office said.
A so-called "vanguard force" of UN troops is not expected to arrive until later in the week, at the earliest.
The force of between 3,000 and 3,500 UN troops will support about 2,000 UN observers already on the ground in southern Lebanon. The UNIFIL observers are facilitating the deployment of Lebanese forces to the region.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr has threatened to halt the deployment of his country's troops in the wake of Israel's raid in eastern Lebanon on Saturday.
Both Lebanon and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan have said the action violates UN Resolution 1701, the framework for the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces defended Saturday's operation, saying it was aimed at preventing the transfer of weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah.
The UN resolution called for a halt to "offensive" maneuvers by the Israeli military.
A Hezbollah member of the Lebanese Parliament, Hassan Hobballa, called the raid "proof that the Israeli enemy is still carrying on with its aggression ... and that it doesn't care about the resolutions taken by the UN Security Council."
Murr said Sunday Hezbollah was committed to the cease-fire, and he warned that any group that fired on Israel would be considered treacherous for giving Israel a pretext to strike. "Any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel," he told a news conference.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would not accept "a cease-fire in which Hezbollah can use that cease-fire just as a timeout to regroup and rearm and prepare for the next round.
"Israel would not have to do these sort of operations if the international forces and the Lebanese forces were following through on their commitment ... preventing these arms shipments for Hezbollah," he added.
In Washington, a White House spokeswoman said the Bush administration took "note" of Israel's statement.
"We note that the prevention of the resupply of weapons to Hezbollah by Iran and Syria is a key provision of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," said Jeannie Mamo. "And the incident underscores the importance of quickly deploying the enhanced UNIFIL."
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