Israel said it was calling back some troops from southern Lebanon after its military and Hezbollah stopped fighting in compliance with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire that began at 8 a.m. local time.

Israel will shift all of its forces southward, keeping them on Lebanese soil just inside the border, on condition the Lebanese Army begins to move into the region, the Haaretz newspaper said. An army spokesman, who commented anonymously by regulation, declined to give details on the number of soldiers who will return to Israel.

The UN Security Council Resolution, approved unanimously Aug. 11, demands an end to the fighting and calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops after UN and Lebanese forces are deployed in southern Lebanon. The measure creates a buffer to protect Israel from Hezbollah rockets and allow Lebanon to exert authority and begin recovery from the conflict. It was accepted by Lebanon and Hezbollah Aug. 12 and by Israel yesterday.

It's unlikely the cease-fire between the Israel Defense Forces and the Muslim Shiite group will hold, said Anat Kurz, a senior research associate and expert on terrorism at Tel Aviv University's Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies.

“There are no forces in Lebanon that will enforce it,'' she said in a telephone interview today. “Hezbollah isn't willing to disarm until the IDF leaves, and once the IDF leaves, there will not be any force with the motivation to enter into a direct struggle with the Hezbollah.''

A report of hostilities came less than five hours after the cease-fire began.

The Israeli military said its forces shot a Hezbollah gunman in the southern Lebanese town of Haddathah, about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of the border with Israel, according to a spokesman who commented anonymously by regulation.

The Israeli soldiers opened fire at about 12:30 p.m. after identifying a group of people who were meters (yards) away as Hezbollah gunmen, the military spokesman said in a telephone interview. The spokesman said he didn't know whether Hezbollah returned fire.

It wasn't immediately clear whether there were Hezbollah casualties in the incident, Hezbollah Central Council member Ali Fayyad said in a telephone interview without providing details.

The conflict began July 12 after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack. The conflict has left about 880 Lebanese dead and about 200 missing, Lebanon's police and government said. Some 155 Israelis have been killed, Israeli police said. Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon have said they will adhere to the cease-fire, with some conditions.

Combat and bombing in the south of the country continued up to the moments before the deadline, Lebanese radio stations said.

Lebanese radio cited witnesses as saying Israeli jets flew over Tyre and Nabatiyeh, though there was no sound of bombing. In the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold, radio stations reported there was no bombing after the cease-fire began.

In the hours before the cease-fire went into effect, seven people were killed and six injured in an Israeli attack on the eastern Lebanese town of Jammaliyeh, north of Baalbek. The attack targeted a van carrying Lebanese soldiers and security officials, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

Two others were killed in attacks on the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon and the southern town of Habboush, the news agency reported.

The UN resolution leaves Israeli ground forces in positions deep inside Lebanon after Prime Minster Ehud Olmert ordered troops three days ago to penetrate as far north as the Litani River, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border. Thirty-two Israelis were killed in the Litani operation while at least 50 Hezbollah gunmen were killed, the IDF said.

The spokesman declined to say how far into Lebanon Israeli forces had pushed before the cease-fire began.

The Security Council measure also authorizes an expansion of an existing UN observer mission, Unifil, to as many as 15 000 members from about 2 000. That force, with a broader military mandate, will assist 15 000 Lebanese soldiers sent to keep the peace.

Hezbollah, which the US and Israel designate a terrorist organization and which is backed by Iran and Syria, controls forces independent of Lebanon's Army.

The resolution asks UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to make proposals within 30 days on disarming Hezbollah and dealing with a border dispute involving the Shebaa Farms area, which is held by Israel. Israel, backed by the UN, says it belongs to Syria.

Lebanon claims the right to the Shebaa Farms, an area Syria has conceded to the Lebanese.

The UN resolution bars “offensive'' actions by Israel.

Troops will continue to undertake “defensive'' operations, the military said. Israel will continue its air and naval blockade on Lebanon until a mechanism is in place to prevent arms from being shipped to Hezbollah, the government said.

“The IDF won't initiate attacks on Hezbollah but will continue to employ means that ensure the best possible protection of the troops in south Lebanon,'' the military said in statement.

“The IDF will remain in south Lebanon until it can hand over to the Lebanese Army and Unifil troops.''

Israel dropped leaflets over Beirut two hours before fighting ended, blaming Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian “masters'' for the destruction in Lebanon and warned it would respond to any future strikes, Agence France-Presse reported.

Fighting continued in the Gaza Strip early today. The IDF reported that two Qassam rockets struck the Israeli southern city of Ashkelon, causing no damage.

Three Palestinians were killed and three injured on in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, medics and eyewitnesses reported.

Israel began operations in Gaza against Hamas, which controls the Palestinian parliament, after the Muslim group abducted an Israeli soldier June 25.