US envoy back in Israel as new offensive looms

JERUSALEM, Aug 10 (Reuters) With an expanded Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon on hold for now, a US envoy returned to Jerusalem on Thursday for what diplomats described as a last-ditch push for a deal on a UN resolution.

US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch had been scheduled to return to Washington after talks in Beirut on Wednesday but changed his plans, Western diplomats said.

US officials declined to discuss details of his schedule in Jerusalem.

Western diplomats said they doubted Israel would wait beyond this weekend to launch the expanded ground offensive if an agreement is not reached on a UN Security Council resolution.

Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, is considering a last-minute trip to New York if it looks like a deal can be reached, diplomats said. Livni's office said a final decision about a possible trip has yet to be made.

''You can always rush to war. But first it's better to give the diplomatic channel a chance,'' Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Israeli Web site YNET News.

''A new window of opportunity has been created to achieve the goals Israel has set,'' he added.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet yesterday authorised a plan to send troops up to 20 km into Lebanon, an operation officials said could take 30 days or more.

But Israel, under pressure from its key U.S. ally, agreed to allow more time for US-led diplomatic efforts before launching the new offensive, aimed at pushing Hizbollah out of southern Lebanon and stopping rocket fire into northern Israel.

''Fifteen casualties in one day proves what price we could pay if we do not try to make the most of the political move,'' Peres said, referring to Israel's death toll in fighting in southern Lebanon yesterday.

Diplomats said US and Israeli officials were discussing what they described as a ''consecutive ceasefire'' under which Israeli military operations would be scaled back in stages when a stabilisation force and the Lebanese army begin deploying.

Lebanon wants an immediate ceasefire and a quick pullout of Israeli troops from the south, where it says 15,000 Lebanese soldiers backed by UN peacekeepers can move in.

Israel says it will only withdraw if a foreign force includes combat units that can challenge Hizbollah. The United States has so far backed this position.

One Western diplomat described Olmert's decision to announce a new offensive without carrying it out as a ''clever ploy'' to step up pressure on the Security Council to back a resolution that includes a strong stabilisation force.

But analyst Mouin Rabbani doubted that Israel's threat of a massive ground invasion would allow a diplomatic breakthrough.

''The more likely scenario is further escalation,'' said the senior West Asia analyst for the International Crisis Group.

REUTERS MQA VC2303