Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Thursday that he expected Israel to lift the ongoing sea blockade on the country on Friday.

Siniora told a news conference that the sea blockade was a "small problem" between the United Nations and Israel that would be resolved quickly.

At the news conference, held in the evening, the prime minister pledged that the government would protect its exclusive right to the use of force and exercise its sovereignty over all Lebanese territory.

"The Lebanese will succeed in establishing sovereignty and freedom. Only the government, through the Lebanese Army, will extend its control over the borders," Siniora said.

He added that the government would work to restore local and international trust in Lebanon.

Lifting the Israeli blockade "is not the end of the crisis," Siniora said, "We need to deploy all possible efforts to achieve the Israeli withdrawal from all the Lebanese territory, liberate the detainees and the Shebaa Farms and complete the army deployment."

Siniora also called for solidarity in the reconstruction projects. "I am confident that we will overcome the challenge of reconstruction," he said.

Israel imposed an air and sea blockade on Lebanon at the outset of its 34-day conflict with the Shi'ite Hezbollah militia on July 12.

On Thursday, Israel lifted the air blockade, and a Lebanese airliner landed at Beirut's patched-up airport to mark the moment. But the Jewish country said the naval blockade would continue until an international force was deployed off the coast.

Source: Xinhua