The dead soldier was the second casualty since an Aug. 14 truce ended a
monthlong war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
Lebanon has demanded that Israel hand over maps of the mine emplacements in
the region. Hezbollah guerrillas also have laid mines in the south before and
during the recent fighting to stop the Israeli army's ground push.
Another Israeli soldier was reportedly shot in the head during a military
operation in the Lebanese border village of Taibeh, the Al-Arabiya satellite TV
channel said. It did not say if the soldier was killed or how badly wounded.
The Israeli military said it could not confirm the incident.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have remained on the positions in southern Lebanon
they occupied during the 34-day war as they wait for a U.N. peacekeeping force
to move into the region and guarantee a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah
guerrillas.
Under the UN-brokered agreement, Lebanon plans to deploy 15,000 soldiers in
the south, establishing a government force in the region for the first time in
four decades.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would not lift its air and
sea blockade until international peacekeepers were deployed at the Beirut
international airport and along the Lebanese border with Syria. Hezbollah's vast
arsenal of rockets and other weapons is believed to originate in Iran and reach
the guerrillas across the Syrian border.
Israeli officials said Olmert wasn't issuing an ultimatum. But the tough
stance appeared to be an attempt to pressure the international community to
speed the dispatch of a vanguard of the 15,000-strong force of international
peacekeepers called for by the cease-fire agreement.
However, European Union nations who are expected to lead the UN peacekeeping
force have moved slowly, apparently wary of committing soldiers without
safeguards to ensure they don't get sucked into the Middle East conflict.
Diplomats said that EU talks taking place in Belgium on Wednesday were
unlikely to produce a breakthrough, though there were expectations that nations
may come forward with at least tentative offers of more troops ahead of a
meeting scheduled Friday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad rejected the UN deployment along
Syria's borders with Lebanon, saying such a move would create animosity between
the two countries.
"This is an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty and a hostile position,"
Assad said in an interview with Dubai Television to be aired later Wednesday.
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