On the Israel-Lebanon border ? Hundreds of Israeli soldiers walked out of Lebanon on Tuesday – some smiling broadly and pumping their fists, others weeping or carrying wounded comrades – as a cease-fire with Hezbollah solidified after a shaky start. The process was expected to accelerate over the coming days.

The international community looked to build a U.N. peacekeeping force for south Lebanon, but it remained unclear how quickly such a force could be deployed. The guerrillas’ patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed that Hezbollah won its fight with Israel – claims the Bush administration dismissed as shameful blustering.

Many of the infantry soldiers smiled with joy as they crossed back into Israel. Members of one unit carried a billowing Israeli flag. Some sang a traditional Hebrew song with the lyric: “We brought peace to you.” Others wept as they returned to their country, exhausted by the fighting.

Some of the troops had been so disconnected from the news that they asked whether Israel had managed to free two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah on July 12 sparked the fighting. Israel had not.

Areas of northern Israel that were turned into closed military zones weeks ago were reopened to civilian traffic, and the tanks, bulldozers and other heavy military vehicles that had lined the roads were gone. At one main junction, teenage girls handed out flowers to returning soldiers, thanking them for protecting their homes.

In the battered Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, residents emerged from grimy bomb shelters and began cleaning up the wreckage caused by more than a month of Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Lebanese army to deploy

The partial Israeli withdrawal came in preparation for a Lebanese troop deployment across the Litani River, some 18 miles north of the Israeli border. Lebanon’s deployment was expected to begin Thursday and eventually put its army in control of war-ravaged south Lebanon with the help of U.N. peacekeepers, military officials on both sides of the conflict said.

Israeli soldiers cross the border between Lebanon and Israel near the village of Malkiya. Israel began slowly pulling forces from southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

The United Nations hopes that 3,500 well-equipped troops can deploy to Lebanon within two weeks as the vanguard of a robust U.N. peacekeeping force to start the process of deploying the Lebanese army and withdrawing Israeli troops, a senior U.N. peacekeeping official said Tuesday.

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and France were due in the Lebanese capital today, and it was widely believed they would work out details of assembling a 15,000-strong international force. Indonesia and a dozen other countries also have expressed a willingness to help.

That force would work with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers. Together, they are expected to police the cease-fire that took hold Monday and ended 34 days of brutal combat, Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket barrages.

France, which was expected to lead the force, was demanding a clearer U.N. mandate, including details on when the troops can use firepower. France had not yet made any announcement of how many troops it plans to send, holding up announcements of troop commitments from other countries.

Hezbollah a wild card

In the short term and before international forces arrive, the process involves three armies on the ground and is complicated, given that the Lebanese and Israeli armies do not have direct contact and a third and central player – Hezbollah guerrillas – will not be involved.

The current U.N. observer force, known as UNIFIL, stationed permanently in the 18-mile band of territory between the Litani and the Israeli frontier, was to take up positions temporarily along the border.

The zone along the frontier would then be handed to Lebanese troops and the bolstered UNIFIL force once all Israeli soldiers have withdrawn, military officials on both sides of the conflict said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the operation.