Israel plans to leave Lebanon in under 10 days

JERUSALEM, Aug 15 (Reuters) The Israeli army plans to withdraw from southern Lebanon in as little as seven to 10 days and to hand over some of its forward positions to UN troops within 48 hours, Israeli officials said today.

The expedited timetable reflects growing concern that Israeli forces will become easy targets for Hizbollah the longer they stay.

But questions remain over the make-up, size and mandate of the UN force that is supposed to move in to preserve a fragile truce.

Israeli officials said plans call for the UN force, known as UNIFIL, to be deployed tomorrow and on Thursday in some Israeli positions that are not seen by the army as strategically crucial.

UNIFIL already has a small presence in Lebanon.

At the same time, Israeli officials said, the Lebanese army should begin deploying to the Litani river, approximately 20 km from the Israeli border, and then slowly move southward as the Israeli army pulls back.

In Lebanon, a senior political source said the Lebanese army would begin its deployment south of the Litani river on Thursday. But he said army units would be deployed only after Israeli soldiers handed over their posts to UN peacekeepers.

Israel's top general, Dan Halutz, said ''if it goes calmly as things appear now'' Israeli forces could complete a handover to UN forces in southern Lebanon in seven to 10 days.

Uri Bar-Joseph, a professor of international relations at Haifa University, said that with a UN-brokered ceasefire in place since yesterday, Israel's army had little choice.

''We cannot clear this area of Hizbollah fighters and waiting another two or three weeks for an international force will mean more Israeli soldiers will die,'' Bar-Joseph said.

BEST CASE Western diplomats said an initial deployment of 4,000 French-led UN troops could begin next week.

But a senior UN diplomat said he doubted enough volunteers would come forward soon to increase the 2,000-strong existing UNIFIL force to 15,000 troops -- the size authorised by the world body to stop the fighting.

An Israeli political source said a complete pullout in one to two weeks was the army's ''best case scenario''.

Up to 2,000 of the 30,000 troops in Lebanon have left since the truce began yesterday, according to Israeli officials.

REUTERS DKA VC2212