The United Nations said on Sunday it did not expect Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah guerrillas by force but hoped they would join the Lebanese army.

"We don't believe that it is indeed possible to go down south or into the Bekaa Valley and take away the weapons of Hezbollah," UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told a news conference.

"Our goal is to integrate Hezbollah into the Lebanese army."

Roed-Larsen will present a report in April on progress in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, which demands foreign troops leave Lebanon and militias there disarm.

His comments came at the end of a 20-day tour that took the Norwegian diplomat around the Arab capitals as well as to Paris, Washington, London, Moscow and Beijing to discuss Hezbollah's weapons and the armed Palestinian factions based in Lebanon.

Hezbollah was the only Lebanese militia to retain its arms after the 1975-1990 civil war.

Hezbollah has argued in the past against joining the Lebanese army, saying that would undermine its effectiveness as a guerrilla force and increase the risk that the army get entangled in a confrontation with Israel.

Backed by Syria and Iran, the Shi'ite Muslim group has vowed to keep those arms as a deterrent against Israel and to liberate the Shaba Farms, a disputed strip on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Blue Line not final

Roed-Larsen urged the Lebanese government to sit down with Syrian officials and demarcate their border to clear up the dispute over the Shaba Farms, where Hezbollah has mounted regular attacks against Israeli troops since the 2000.

Lebanese leaders agreed at national talks last week that the Shaba Farms was Lebanese and want Israel to withdraw its troops from there. Syria also says the area is Lebanese but has yet to sign official documents to that effect.

The United Nations considers the Shaba Farms Syrian land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East was and has certified Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon as complete.

But Roed-Larsen said that the Blue Line, drawn by the United Nations to mark the extent of Israel's withdrawal, was not final and could change if Syria and Lebanon drew their border. He also encouraged the two countries to establish full diplomatic ties.

"This should now take place without delay," he said. "We do hope that both sides will work to meet these agreements."

Roed-Larsen praised the Lebanese national talks aimed at ending a political crisis that has paralysed the country by thrashing out divisive issues such as the fate of Hezbollah.

He said Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora planned to put to the cabinet the resolutions agreed at the national talks, which have brought together political leaders, both Christian and Muslim, pro- and anti-Syrian, in the broadest such talks since the Taif conference that ended the civil war.

Lebanon's top leaders have already agreed to disarm Palestinian groups outside the country's 12 refugee camps in six months and to pursue normal diplomatic relations with Syria.

Ties have been strained since last year's murder of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri sparked local and world pressure on Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. Many Lebanese blame Syria for the killing. Damascus denies any role. (Reuters)