U.N. and Israeli tanks were involved in a brief face-off Thursday on a road in southern Lebanon where the Israeli army has been establishing checkpoints, AFP said.

Four French Leclerc tanks with U.N. Peacekeepers moved up the hill to stand 500 meters from the entrance to the border village of Marwaheen, as two Israeli tanks operated nearby on Lebanese soil.

Standing some 50 meters from each other, the tanks were locked in a 20-minute face-off, the first between the Israeli army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The French tanks then withdrew from the area, as observers of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization deployed in the area.

Israeli soldiers confiscated the identity cards of photographers at the scene, claiming they may give pictures of the Israeli military to Hizbullah fighters.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Saniora has called on Israel to pull its troops out of Lebanon immediately and said the Lebanese were doing "all they can" to ensure the government had authority over the entire territory of the country.

"In order for the current cessation of hostilities to be sustained, Israel must withdraw without further delay from the position it still occupies within Lebanon and must stop its violation of Lebanese territory," Saniora told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)