UN council divisions delay vote on West Asia measure

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 7 (Reuters) A Lebanese demand for a quick withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon left the UN Security Council divided, virtually ruling out vote today on a resolution seeking to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

The council's five permanent members -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France -- failed to reach agreement during a 90-minute meeting on whether to add the Lebanese demand as an amendment to a US-French draft resolution aimed at ending the conflict, diplomats said.

That prevented Paris and Washington from putting the draft into final form -- a move that would have cleared the way for a vote today, the diplomats said.

''I think that means a vote tomorrow is the more likely scenario,'' said a diplomat from one of the permanent members.

Paris and Washington had hoped their resolution, which calls for ''a full cessation of hostilities,'' could be adopted today or tomorrow, and some diplomats had pushed for a vote as early yesterday evening.

But the Beirut government's dissatisfaction with the draft put pressure on the council to make it more acceptable to it.

''Our concern was that the Lebanese government seems to be unhappy with the draft resolution,'' Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters, adding that the full 15-nation Security Council would meet again this morning for further discussions.

REUTERS DH RK0425