The deployment of an international force to Lebanon may be the best way to ensure any ceasefire agreed in the region is maintained, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said on Tuesday.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, seen here on 10 July 2006. Foreign diplomats to London have been accused of criminal offences including child abuse and sexual assault but escaped prosecution because of immunity, several British Sunday newspapers.[AFP\File]

As Israel bombarded Lebanon and said its offensive against Hizbollah could take a few weeks, the guerrilla group backed by Syria and Iran was also firing more rockets into the Jewish state.

"We believe there is a contribution that an international force can make," Beckett told BBC radio a day after world leaders at the Group of Eight summit in Russia raised the possibility of sending in troops.

The United States has expressed caution about the idea.

Beckett said she was open to other suggestions but that Britain was exploring the option of an international force with the United Nations and other nations.

"Everybody understands that at some point there will have to be a ceasefire," she said. "It will be much more difficult to get a ceasefire unless there is some assurance on either side that the ceasefire can be maintained."

While there is little sign the two sides are about to call a ceasefire, Beckett stressed that no one was talking about sending in soldiers to create peace and acknowledged that getting together such a force would take time.