The United Nations postponed on Monday a meeting of potential contributors to a possible new international force meant to be deployed in Lebanon.

"It was postponed to give more time to efforts to clarify details of international plans for Lebanon," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had called the meeting last Friday, saying the time had come for the international community "to really be action-oriented" to solve the crisis in the Middle East, where hundreds of Lebanese and Israeli civilians have been killed in the past two weeks, and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been displaced from their homes.

Annan had said the discussions would be preliminary because the Security Council has not yet set out a mandate for the international force and member states will not commit troops until they know the scope of that mandate.

UN officials said they expected the meeting, which had been scheduled for Monday afternoon, to be held later this week, but the timing remained uncertain.