Israel said yesterday it was far from leaving south Lebanon after a bloody month of August capped by an incident in which four Israeli soldiers burned to death.
"The basic problem in Lebanon hasn't changed," the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israeli army radio on his way back from a trip to Asia.
"(If) we depart from Lebanon, Lebanon will enter us - it will reach the Galilee fence. And so we are far from finding a stable solution in Lebanon that will enable us to leave," Mr Netanyahu said.
His office later said that the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, informed Mr Netanyahu by telephone that she would arrive in Israel on September 10th.
"We've tried for some time with the Americans to renew the political process between us and Syria, which would certainly influence the situation in Lebanon, but I think it is preferable to wait until her arrival," Mr Netanyahu said when asked if he would raise Lebanon with Ms Albright.
Israel has long appealed to Syria, which has some 35,000 troops stationed in Lebanon, to use its influence to ensure calm in south Lebanon.
Israeli troops had just killed four guerrillas of the pro-Syrian Amal movement on Thursday when Israeli artillery shells fired in support of the soldiers ignited a brush fire that killed four Israelis and wounded six, the army said. The army has launched an inquiry.