The UN on Monday indefinitely postponed a meeting called by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to start planning a new international peacekeeping force for Lebanon.
A UN official, cited by Reuters, said the meeting, which had been scheduled for Monday afternoon, had been delayed "until there is more political clarity" on the path ahead in the Middle East conflict. Organizers hoped to reschedule the meeting later in the week.
Separately, the council approved on Monday a 30-day extension of the mandate of the existing peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, the 2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL. Council members said the short-term extension would give them more time to work on the outlines of a new force.
Meanwhile, thousands of Lebanese civilians fled the battered border villages in the south Monday, taking advantage of a halt in Israeli air attacks. Civilians drove toward Tyre, white flags fluttering from their cars, buses and pickup trucks.
Also Monday, rescue workers began the difficult task of digging up dozens of bodies from under the rubble of villages in south Lebanon. Rescue workers retrieved the remains of 28 civilians from the rubble of collapsed houses in three south Lebanon villages Monday, Lebanese Red Cross sources said.
They said 12 bodies were recovered in the village of Sreefa, nine in Zibqeen and four in Qleileh, and rescuers were looking for more people believed buried under the rubble by Israel Air Force strikes over the past three weeks. Three other bodies were recovered in three other villages.
