Israel to speed up pullout from some Lebanese areas

JERUSALEM, Aug 15 (Reuters) The Israeli army plans to start pulling back from some forward positions in southern Lebanon and handing them over to U N troops within 48 hours, Israeli officials and Western diplomats said today.

The expedited timetable reflects growing Israeli concerns that its forces will become easy targets for Hizbollah attack and jeopardise a fragile truce that took effect at 1030 hrs IST yesterday.

Israeli government officials said plans call for the U N force, known as UNIFIL, to redeploy on Wednesday or Thursday in some positions currently held by Israeli soldiers.

UNIFIL already has some 2,000 troops on the ground. A U N-brokered ceasefire calls for adding as many as 13,000 more U N troops in southern Lebanon.

Western diplomats said an initial deployment of 4,000 U N troops could get under way next week. But a senior U N diplomat said he doubted enough volunteers would come forward to field a full 15,000-member force any time soon.

A Western diplomat briefed by the army said frontline Israeli forces had already started pulling back ''on a small scale'' from less strategic areas of southern Lebanon in order to consolidate positions they can more easily defend.

''They (Israeli officials) want a fast exit in one-to-two weeks,'' the diplomat said. ''They don't want a second round (of fighting) now.'' FASTER PULLOUT Israel had sent an estimated 30,000 troops into southern Lebanon as part of its ground offensive, taking territory to the Litani river, some 20 km (12 miles) north of the Israeli border.

At least one battalion, estimated to contain between 800 and 1,000 troops, pulled out yesterday after the truce took effect.

More troops were seen leaving today.

The pace of the Israeli withdrawal is expected to increase later this week, assuming there is no escalation in fighting.

Israel initially said its troops would start pulling out only once an expanded UNIFIL and the Lebanese army begin deploying.

But diplomats said Israel was interested in speeding that up. ''They want to finish it. The more they sit there the more likely they will run into problems,'' one diplomat said.

Lebanon's Defence Minister Elias Murr said the Lebanese army would send 15,000 troops to the north of the Litani river later this week, ready to enter the southern border area.

But Murr said the Lebanese army would deploy on the border only after the U N force was there and had verified Israel's withdrawal.

''Coordination meetings (with UNIFIL) have already started.

As a first step, areas that are not crucial from our perspective could be handed over'' to UNIFIL troops already on the ground and Lebanese forces, a senior Israeli government official said.

French military officers headed to the United Nations to discuss the boosted U.N. peacekeeping force France is expected to lead, U N and French officials said.

REUTERS KD HT1500