The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution seeking a «full cessation» of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, offering the region its best chance yet for peace after a month of fighting that has killed more than 800 people and inflamed Mideast tensions. The resolution, adopted unanimously, authorizes 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon as Israeli forces that have occupied the area withdraw. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the «hard work of diplomacy» was only beginning with the passage of the resolution and that it would be unrealistic to expect an immediate end to all violence. She said the United States would increase its assistance to Lebanon to US$50 million (¤39 million) and demanded other nations stop interfering in its affairs. «Today we call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community,» Rice told the council. «This is a first step but it is a good first step,» Rice told reporters afterward. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endorsed the resolution late Friday, after a day of brinksmanship including a threat to expand the ground war. Lebanon's Cabinet was to consider the draft on Saturday, but Rice said the Lebanese government assured her that it supported the text. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he planned to meet Lebanese and Israeli officials as soon as possible to determine the exact date of a cease-fire. With tough language in remarks before the vote, Annan said hundreds of millions of people around the world shared his frustration that the council had taken so long to act. That inaction has «badly shaken the world's faith in its authority and integrity,» he said. «I would be remiss if I did not tell you how profoundly disappointed I am that the council did not reach this point much, much earlier,» he said. The Security Council resolution leaves out several key demands from both Israel and Lebanon in efforts to come up with a workable arrangement. Lebanon's acting foreign minister, Tarek Mitri, suggested that his nation would accept the resolution though he said its call for a cessation of fighting could not be implemented. He criticized it for allowing Israel to continue some operations. The resolution gives Annan one week to report back on how well it has been implemented. The council leaves open the possibility of another resolution to further enhance UNIFIL's mandate and other steps to achieve a permanent cease-fire. Qatar's Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said that in the coming days Arab states would submit formal requests for a Security Council meeting in September to hammer out a new regional peace plan.
