Special report: Israel-Lebanon conflicts [Gallery] [Videos]

Israel, Lebanon agree on ceasefire

    JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Dan Halutz expected on Tuesday that all Israeli troops in south Lebanon would evacuate by Friday, local news paper Ha'aretz quoted a legislator as reporting.

    Halutz said that the IDF will pull out of Lebanon by the Jewish New Year holiday that begins sundown Friday, according to RanCohen, a legislator with the left-wing Meretz party.

    "He told me unequivocally that he estimates that if everything goes well, all Israeli soldiers will be out of Lebanon by the eve of the Jewish New Year," Cohen said after Halutz addressed the Knesset (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Israeli forces have been gradually withdrawing from areas the army captured during a 34-day-long fighting with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas since a UN-brokered truce took effect on Aug.14.

    The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the violence called for expanding the peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 15,000troops to help Lebanese army troops take control of the south. Conflict between Israel and Hezbollah broke out on July 12after the Shiite group captured two Israeli soldiers and killedeight in cross-border raids.

    Nearly 1,200 Lebanese and 157 Israelis were killed in the conflict, it was reported. Enditem