The United Nations should shoulder its due responsibility for safeguarding Lebanon's interests, said Salloukh in a statement.

He said all Lebanon demanded was an immediate cease-fire and Israel's withdrawal to behind the Blue Line.

Lebanon hoped the diplomatic efforts, initiated by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani and Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates Rashid Abdullah Al Nuaimi at New York's UN headquarters, would yield positive achievements, said the minister.

He also said his country had been keeping in contact with UN Security Council members for diplomatic mediation.

Lebanon and the Arab League have rejected the current U.S.-French draft which does not specifically call for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon after any end to hostilities.

They said they would only support the seven-point proposal outlined by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora at an international conference on the Israel-Lebanon issue in Rome on July 26.

Siniora's proposal demands Israel's immediate cease-fire and withdrawal to behind the Blue Line. It also called for exchanges of prisoners of war and asked Israel to hand jurisdiction over Shebaa Farms to the United Nations.

Shebaa Farms, a collection of 14 farms dotting the western slopes of Mount Hermon, cover an area of around 10 square kilometers. Israel occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years and partially withdrew its troops in 2000. But Israel remained in the Shebaa Farms area, which it seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah erupted on July 12 when Israel started a retaliatory military offensive afte Hezbollah staged an incursion into Israeli territory, killing several soldiers and seizing two others.

Around 1,000 Lebanese and more than 100 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.