The White House said Wednesday that it was the job of the Lebanese government, with UN backing, to disarm Hezbollah.

"It's important to realize that the Lebanese government will be in charge of disarming Hezbollah, and we expect that to happen," White House spokesman Tony Snow said at a news briefing.

He said Lebanese forces were preparing to begin to move south, and it was going to be their job eventually to make sure that Hezbollah was disarmed and no longer functioning as an independent militia.

"We expect that to happen. But it's going to take some time," he said.

Asked whether the United States would stop designating Hezbollah as a terrorist group, Snow said: "Let's wait and see what happens."

"Good consequences tend to flow from good actions," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the 15,000-member UN force being created for southern Lebanon would keep the peace and enforce an international arms embargo, but it would not be charged with disarming Hezbollah guerrillas, the USA Today newspaper reported Wednesday.

That "political agreement" would be the responsibility of the Lebanese, she said.