Time running out in Lebanon campaign-Israeli minister

JERUSALEM, Aug 5 (Reuters) Time is running out for Israel's military campaign in Lebanon following the completion of a draft UN Security Council resolution on a cessation of hostilities, an Israeli Cabinet Minister said today.

''We have the coming days for lots of military moves. But we have to realise the timetable is getting shorter,'' Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog, a member of the security cabinet, said on Channel 1 TV in Israel's first response to the draft resolution.

''It is a fact that we have to accept and act in accordance with,'' he said.

Herzog spoke after the United States and France completed the draft resolution calling for fighting between Israel and Hizbollah, which began on July 12, to end.

The full 15-member council has to review and accept the text. A vote is anticipated on Monday or Tuesday.

A second resolution is envisaged a week or two after the first is adopted, setting down conditions for a permanent ceasefire and authorising an international force for southern Lebanon.

Hizbollah leaders have sworn to fight as long as Israeli soldiers remain on Lebanese soil. At least 10,000 Israeli troops are inside Lebanon trying to dislodge Hizbollah fighters from the border and stop them firing rockets into Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that Israel would stop fighting when an effective international force deployed in southern Lebanon.

REUTERS SHB KN2346