U.S., France Near Agreement on U.N. Draft

Siniora has expressed concerns to Annan about whether he could persuade Hezbollah to accept the draft resolution, according to U.N. officials. Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh told al-Jazeera Thursday that the resolution as it stood did not resolve a number of Lebanese concerns, including Beirut's call for Israeli forces to withdraw immediately.

"Negotiations are still going on," Lebanese Chargé d'Affaires Carla Jazzar said. "No one said this resolution has been refused. It's not over yet at all," she said.

The United States had clashed earlier this week with France over the mandate of an international force for Lebanon. But U.S. and French diplomats sounded upbeat Thursday as they worked to overcome differences over language that would choreograph Israel's gradual withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the U.N.-backed Lebanese army's deployment there.

"We're making progress, and it's entirely possible we could have a vote tomorrow," John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday morning after meeting his French counterpart, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. "We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French."

The threat of Israeli ground action has heightened the sense of urgency in concluding weeks of contentious negotiations over a plan to end the violence. "We're pushing for a vote. [Rice] doesn't care if they have to work through the night" to prepare for a Friday vote, said a senior U.S. official. "If work needs to be done, she'll do that. If she needs to bring it to closure, she'll close. And if she only needs to vote, she'll vote."

The breakthrough in negotiations with France came after the United States dropped its demand that Israeli troops be allowed to remain in southern Lebanon until a muscular international force is in place with a tough mandate to ensure that Hezbollah could not mount attacks on Israeli towns. Washington also agreed to scrap a provision that the force be explicitly authorized to disarm Hezbollah.

The United States and France had agreed Thursdaythat the force could be authorized to use military firepower to help Beirut restore its control over southern Lebanon. The enlarged U.N. mission would be authorized to do that under a provision of the U.N. Charter, known as Chapter 7, that permits peacekeepers to use force to implement their mission.

China's deputy ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, said that "the problem is that the Lebanese they do not accept any reference to Chapter 7."

The draft resolution envisions an international force that could be close to parity with the 15,000 Lebanese troops to be deployed in the south, U.S. and French officials said. Although it will come under the auspices of the controversial U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been deployed there since 1978, it will be much more muscular.

"Everyone says UNIFIL. It would be a UNIFIL8 force in name only. Its nature, composition and mandate would be different. It's the difference between Clark Kent and Superman," said the senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing diplomacy.

Israel's ambassador, Dan Gillerman, had previously derided UNIFIL as "impotent" and "useless" at restraining Hezbollah from shelling Israeli civilians. But he told Israel Channel 1 television that the new U.N. force "will be completely different from the blue helmets we know today." He said that "a number of European countries have voiced their agreement to be part of this force."

U.S. diplomats visited Siniora's Ottoman-era headquarters in Beirut several times Thursday for consultations.

"We've talked about the issues of Israeli withdrawal and the timing of the Lebanese armed forces, as well as the international forces, taking over that territory," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said from Washington. "It's important to get this right, because it's one thing to have words on the piece of paper and it's another thing to have those words be able to be implemented in a way that is effective and gets you to the solution that you want to get to."

Wright reported from Washington.