UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8: A French-US plan to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah hit mounting difficulties on Tuesday as Arab ministers took their objections to the UN Security Council.

Russia also raised problems and said the Security Council should urgently pass a resolution calling for a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ if a plan could not be quickly agreed.

The US and French ambassadors to the United Nations held new talks on the draft resolution, diplomats said, but four weeks into the conflict the Security Council appeared no closer to voting for action.

France and the United States say they would consider changing the draft and the talks have been made more urgent by a Lebanese government offer to deploy 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon if Israeli forces withdraw.

France traditionally has influence in Lebanon, while the United States is the main Israeli ally.

The draft “calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations.”

It also sets out conditions for an international force to be sent to Lebanon, but a second resolution will be needed to set out a mandate, which could delay the deployment of any force.

Lebanon has objected to the French-US text because there is no explicit call for Israeli troops to leave Lebanon after any ceasefire starts.

It also wants a stronger reference to the disputed Shebaa Farms region, which is occupied by Israel.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan were to put Lebanon’s case at a Security Council public debate on the Middle East.

The Arab League envoy to the United Nations, Yahya Mahmassani, expressed hope that France and the United States could be persuaded to change. “They have said it is not a take-it or leave-it proposal,” he told reporters.

Russia took up growing international impatience at the lack of action at the United Nations. Diplomats said no vote was expected to be passed before Wednesday, at the earliest.

“If differences remain over the current draft, a short UN resolution on a humanitarian ceasefire should be adopted immediately as an intermediate step,” Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said in a statement released in Moscow.

Russia cannot support a Security Council resolution on the conflict that is opposed by Lebanon, Russia’s UN envoy said.

“For us of course, a draft that is useless to the Lebanese side must not be adopted since it will only lead to the continuation of the conflict,” Vitaly Churkin told the Russian news channel Vesti-24.

“There are now intensive efforts... being made to try and come up with a draft resolution that is more acceptable to the Lebanese government. It’s hard for me to say when this will happen, since the Israeli side has to agree,” he added.

France indicated that it wants to make changes to the resolution following Lebanon’s offer to send 15,000 troops to the south of the country after any Israeli withdrawal.

“I would like the discussions underway in New York to take this essential new element into account, in order to secure the rapid adoption of a resolution,” France’s Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said.

Israel has described the troop proposal as “an interesting step” and said it was studying it.

The United States has appeared more reluctant to change the text.

But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was expected at the United Nations at some stage of discussions, said on Monday: “We’re going to listen to the concerns of the parties and see how they might be addressed.”—AFP