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The United Nations won pledges from countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, to contribute soldiers to a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon that will oversee a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

At least seven countries made “relatively firm commitments'' at a meeting yesterday in New York, said UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown. The UN wants to deploy about 3 500 soldiers within two weeks and increase to 15 000 the current force of 2 000.

The meeting was “a reasonable start,'' Malloch Brown said yesterday. “I think we're in business.''

The cease-fire that came into force Aug. 14 ended more than four weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. A Security Council resolution approved Aug. 11 demanded a halt to hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon after UN and Lebanese troops are deployed. Israel's military yesterday said it transferred control of 50% of the region to the UN.

“The current cessation of hostilities is not going to be stable for long,'' Malloch Brown said, adding that it is vital that the 3 500 UN soldiers are deployed within 10 days. “It has to move towards a full disengagement and cease-fire.''

About one-third of the 23 nations that addressed the New York meeting said they will provide soldiers, Malloch Brown said, according to the UN. Another third made conditional commitments, while the final third “were much more cautious, offering just support in principle.''

Hezbollah, sponsored by Iran and Syria, has been linked to scores of terrorist attacks on Israelis and Americans, including rocket assaults on Israeli towns, bombings in Beirut in 1983 that killed 241 US servicemen and 58 French soldiers, and the 1994 attack that killed 85 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The US and Israel designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The conflict began after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on July 12. Israeli air strikes were followed by a ground offensive. About 1 200 Lebanese were killed and 4 500 wounded, Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said two days ago. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Aug. 14 that 159 Israelis were killed. Police said 2,015 Israelis were injured during the hostilities.

France will lead the expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and will double its current deployment to 400 soldiers, President Jacques Chirac said yesterday, after speaking with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan by telephone. Lebanon is a former French protectorate.

“We were disappointed,'' Malloch Brown said of the French commitment. “We had hoped France would be able to do more, but the French announcement did not deter others.''

Bangladesh offered two battalions, or about 1 500 to 2 000 soldiers, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal each volunteered a battalion to the UN force. German Ambassador Thomas Matussek said his government would provide enough ships to patrol the entire Lebanese coast, enforcing an arms embargo, as well as customs agents and police to monitor the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Denmark offered two patrol boats, Greece a frigate, and Turkey said the UN could use a seaport and airport. Britain will provide aircraft and ships, plus use of its base on Cyprus.

The expanded UN force isn't expected to disarm Hezbollah, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a USA Today interview published two days ago.

“This is a prudent set of rules of engagement which is non- offensive in character, but calls on you to use force if necessary,'' Malloch Brown said in reference to the UN mission.

“If they don't voluntarily disarm when confronted by our troops, then we will employ force to disarm them.''

The disarming of Hezbollah is a ``pipe dream,'' said Timor Goksel, who was the interim force spokesman for 20 years until 2003 and now teaches at the American University of Beirut. “The Lebanese army is going south to defend Lebanon, not Israel.''

Hezbollah has 14 seats in Lebanon's 128-member parliament and two members in the cabinet. The Shiite Muslim group has defied UN Resolution 1559, approved in 2004, which calls for the disarming and disbanding of militias in the country.

The UN said yesterday 6 000 people an hour are moving back into southern Lebanon and that 81 000 Lebanese have returned from Syria. Thousands of Israelis who fled rocket attacks returned to their homes this week. Israel estimates that 1-million Israelis were confined to shelters or forced to relocate by the attacks.

The Lebanese government said about 1-million people were displaced from their homes by fighting in the south.

The conflict cost the Israeli economy at least $1,6-billion, according to Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson, and Lebanon's economy as much as $7-billion, according to Fatfat.

In the West Bank, an Israeli police unit killed two suspected members of the Islamic Jihad group early today near Bethlehem, the daily newspaper Haaretz reported, citing an unidentified military spokeswoman.

They were killed during a two-hour gun battle, Haaretz said, citing unidentified Palestinian security officials and witnesses.

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