Lebanon asked the UN Security Council on Sunday to make changes to a French-U.S. draft resolution on the Mideast crisis, seeking to include a demand for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Through the proposed changes, which have been presented to an expert-level meeting at the UN on Sunday morning, Lebanon would want a resolution to call on Israel "upon the cessation of hostilities to hand over the positions it holds in Lebanon to UNIFIL and withdraw forces behind the Blue Line."

Under the proposal, within 72 hours of the truce, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) would hand over a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army.

"That is what Lebanon is asking for, it was presented as an amendment," Lebanon's UN representative Nouhad Mahmoud told reporters.

France and the United States presented the 15-member Security Council with the draft on Saturday calls for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

Paris and Washington are pushing for a vote by the council early next week on the draft seeking an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but Lebanese officials have said it ignores their appeals for an immediate ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Source: Xinhua