"...I think if they do, they will see that there is much in it which is very much in the interests of Lebanon, and more importantly there is a clear cut call for a full cessation of hostilities."

Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, said the draft was unacceptable because it would leave Israeli troops in Lebanon and did not deal with two other key demands.

The draft makes no explicit mention of an Israeli withdrawal and implicitly allows Israeli defensive operations.

Instead, it calls in the longer term for a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, which Hezbollah controls and where Israeli troops are now fighting, where only Lebanese armed forces and U.N.-mandated international troops would be allowed.

Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council met in New York Sunday in response to Lebanon's opposition to the resolution.

Washington and Paris had hoped to put the draft in final form for a Security Council vote on Monday.

But they delayed action after Lebanon and Qatar, the council's only Arab member, proposed many amendments to the resolution, first and foremost demanding that Israel pull its forces out of Lebanon once hostilities end.