BEIRUT, Lebanon - An explosion of violence on the Israeli-Lebanon border appears to be a message from the Hezbollah militia to the new government and the United Nations of its determination to keep its weapons despite calls for disarmament, analysts and the press say.

"Hezbollah wanted to show that nothing has changed despite the Syrian military withdrawal and the end to Syrian dominance" of Lebanese politics, political scientist Ghassan Ezzeh told AFP.

"It also wanted to give a signal to the next government that it is not ready to comply" with a clause in UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calling for its disarmament.

The resolution, jointly sponsored by the United States and France and adopted last September, called for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon. That set off a train of events that led to Damascus withdrawing its forces in April after 29 years.

The resolution also said the council was "gravely concerned at the continued presence of armed militias in Lebanon, which prevent the Lebanese government from exercising its full sovereignty."

It called for the "disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias."

On Wednesday, Hezbollah fighters bombarded a disputed border zone, killing an Israeli soldier and prompting retaliatory artillery fire and air strikes.

It was the first cross-border clash since Syria withdrew its forces in April, and the worst since January.

Israeli troops opened fire on Hezbollah fighters again on Thursday, raising tensions further, though the Israeli government has said it does not want an escalation.

Military sources said at least one Hezbollah fighter was possibly killed or injured when the militants approached an Israeli army post in the flashpoint Shebaa Farms area.

But Hezbollah denied there had been a gunfight with Israeli troops or any victims among its fighters.

The violence came just before President Emile Lahoud designated former finance minister Fouad Siniora Thursday to form the first government elected since Syria ended its military presence. A majority of MPs have backed Siniora, a close colleague of former premier Rafiq Hariri, who was
assassinated in February.

Hariri's murder touched off a popular protest that, strongly backed by the international community, forced Syria to withdraw.

Hezbollah's attack on Wednesday was a "double message to Israel and to the new Lebanese authority that there is no question of disarming," the Ad-Diyar daily wrote.

Hezbollah, which is a powereful political movement that sat in the previous legislature, garnered a large bloc of seats in the new parliament along with Shiite ally Amal.

It based its electoral campaign on a refusal to disarm, and Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah boasted of 12,000 Katyusha rockets pointed at Israel.

On Tuesday, parliament reelected veteran speaker Nabih Berri, the chief of Amal, who had committed himself to supporting the "resistance" against Israel.

MP and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a member of the new majority, declared afterwards that the next government "should ask the Security Council not to apply" that part of Resolution 1559 demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah's militia.

But a diplomat in Beirut told AFP that the great powers do not have any plan for disarming the militia, and that the ball is in the Lebanese government's court.

One suggestion floated in Europe was for Hezbollah's militia to be integrated into the Lebanese army as a distinct unit.

And Britain has said it would be open, if Lebanon wishes, to draw on its experience in Northern Ireland to assist in the question of disarmament.

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