UK's Blair sees UN Lebanon resolution within days

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today he hoped for agreement within the next few days on a United Nations resolution aimed at bringing about an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.

''I'm now hopeful we will have such a resolution down very shortly and agreed within the next few days. The purpose of that will be to bring about an immediate ceasefire and then put in place the conditions for the international force to come in support of the Lebanese government,'' he told a news conference.

Calling it a ''very critical time'', Blair said the UN Security Council resolution was coming together and remaining differences were very slight.

Blair has withstood criticism at home for standing by US President George W Bush in resisting a call for Israel to stop shooting until an international force can be agreed upon.

Blair criticised as ''deeply unhelpful'' and ''quite shocking'' comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today who said the main cure to the Lebanese conflict was ''the elimination of the Zionist regime.'' He said Ahmadinejad's call for the elimination of Israel showed how important it was ''that we have a strong alliance of moderation to take on those people with such extreme views.'' London and Washington accuse Tehran of providing Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas with missiles to attack Israel.

Blair called for a ''revival and re-energising'' of the West Asia peace process once the Lebanon conflict had calmed down.

''It is essential we take this forward and I hope within the next few weeks we can say some more about the specifics of that, exactly how we manage to make sure those words are translated into practical action,'' said Blair, who said he intended to go ahead with his plans to go on holiday this weekend.

REUTERS DKB BD1744