Israeli forces began leaving parts of south Lebanon today as a UN truce largely held for a second day and the Lebanese army prepared to move south.
Thousands of refugees who had fled the month-long war between Israel and Hizbullah headed home to battered villages in the south.
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In northern Israel, residents also returned after weeks away from their homes to escape cross-border Hizbollah rocket fire.
The Israeli army, which had sent 30,000 troops into the south to fight the Shia Muslim guerrillas, plans to start handing over some pockets of territory to UN troops in a day or two, Israeli officials and Western diplomats said.
Israel's top general, Dan Halutz, said Israeli forces could complete a withdrawal within 7 to 10 days, army radio reported.
In line with the UN Security Council resolution that halted the fighting, the Lebanese army will begin moving 15,000 troops south of the Litani River on Thursday, a senior political source said. The force is assembling at various army bases.
"As we speak, the army is readying the force," the source said, adding that Lebanese units would stay out of areas occupied by Israeli troops until UN peacekeepers move in.
Lebanese Defence Minister Elias al-Murr has said the army will not disarm Hizbullah guerrillas in the south.
The truce remains fragile. Israeli soldiers shot five Hizbullah fighters in two incidents in Lebanon on today, the Israeli army said. It was not known whether any had been killed.
Today Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said peace in the Middle East would remain elusive for the foreseeable future and that the United States was to blame.
"It is evident that after six years of this (US) administration that there is no peace and there will be none in the foreseeable future," Mr Assad said.
He praised Lebanon's Hizbullah militants for resisting Israeli forces during five weeks of war and said their actions would make the Jewish state think twice before pursuing "terrorist policies" in the region.
Last night, President Bush again blamed Hizbullah for provoking the latest Middle East conflict that began five weeks ago.
"Hizbullah attacked Israel, Hizbullah started the crisis, and Hizbullah suffered a defeat in this crisis," he said.
The army also said four Hizbollah mortar bombs landed near its troops overnight, causing no casualties. Israel's quicker withdrawal plans reflect concern that its forces on the ground are easy targets for Hizbollah attack.
Israeli troops left the Christian town of Marjayoun, the nearby town of Qlaiah and the village of Ghandouriyeh, scene of ferocious battles over the weekend, security sources said.
Much of Ghandouriyeh was devastated. In one area the shattered tracks of an Israeli armoured vehicle lay near a blood-stained Israeli flak jacket. The bodies of five Hizbullah guerrillas were found elsewhere in the village.
Lebanese rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble of destroyed houses in several border villages, witnesses said.
The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon said it had not observed any breaches of the truce. It said initial assessments in three southern villages showed that between 50 and 80 percent of civilian houses had been destroyed.
Israel has said it will not withdraw fully until a beefed-up UN force and Lebanese army troops are deployed in the south.
The general calm has prompted a chaotic tide of Shia Muslim refugees flowing back to southern villages, despite the risk of unexploded munitions left over from the fighting and Israeli leaflet drops warning that it was not safe to return.
"People need to be aware the dangers are very high," said Astrid van Genderen Stort, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR. She said there had been at least eight incidents involving unexploded ordnance, but had no word on casualties.
Life was also returning to towns in northern Israel.
Agencies