¡¡¡¡BEIRUT, Oct. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Lebanon Wednesday started pumping water from the Wazzani river along the borer area with Israel, the Oriental radio reported on Wednesday.

¡¡¡¡An official inauguration will be held on Oct. 16 in southern Lebanon to celebrate the completion of the siphoning project that has drawn strong opposition from Israel.

¡¡¡¡Lebanon's Council of the South conducted the project beside the Wazzani river, which will provide about 60 villages in the area with drinking water.

¡¡¡¡Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri Wednesday stressed that he will preside over the inauguration disregarding the proposal from the US government to postpone it.

¡¡¡¡Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has renewed his threat of military action to stop Lebanon's tapping the water, saying it is impossible for Israel to accept a Lebanese fait accompli on common water resources and will never offer concessions of this matter.

¡¡¡¡For its part, Washington urges an abstention from any warlike hostilities in southern Lebanon, because it does not want anything to detract its attention from imperative war on Iraq.

¡¡¡¡The US State Department's top water expert Charles Lawson arrived in Beirut last Tuesday for a week-long stay to "urgently draft a report" for US President George W. Bush on the Lebanese-Israeli water dispute.

¡¡¡¡A senior US diplomat in Beirut Wednesday said his government prefers to solve the problem through diplomatic means and it recognizes both Lebanon and Israel's need to water resource.

¡¡¡¡The Wazzani river rises in southern Lebanon and converges into Hasbani river in a gorge on the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Israeli border. Their water flows into northern Israel and the Sea of Galilee, which Israel regards as its main water reserve. Enditem