KFARKILA, Lebanon - With the blue UN flag over their armoured cars and keeping hands off their guns, unloaded to reassure the locals, Spanish peacekeepers have started patrolling the Kfarkila region of south Lebanon on the border with Israel.

"We must avoid any aggressive attitude, anything that can could cause fear or look like conflict. The (low) level of alert right now means we can patrol without wearing helmets and even get out of the vehicles without guns," said marine Captain David Alarcon.

His patrol of 18 soldiers toured three border observation posts which the Spanish contingent is to take over from Indian peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that is being heavily reinforced in the wake of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

About 560 Spanish soldiers landed in Lebanon last week to join the expanded UNIFIL, to which Madrid has committed 1,100 soldiers.

"The atmosphere in this sector is extremely calm. The people already know who we are. In some villages, they showered us with rice," a traditional Arab welcome, said the captain who has taken part in two peace missions in Bosnia.

As they passed through Kfarkila, 35 kilometres (about 20 miles) east of the port town of Tyre, the children directed kisses at the soldiers while young girls smiled playfully at the men.

But older residents of a Shiite region where the Hezbollah group has ruled the roost for the past six years since Israel ended a two-decade occupation of south Lebanon turned away, highlighting the local suspicion of foreign forces.

The two armoured Humvees and the Pirana fighting vehicle, armed with machine-guns and grenade-launchers, passed along some roads littered with unexploded ordnance and small red plastic signs warning of mines.

The lead vehicle came to a sudden halt in front of an unexploded Israeli shell that was clearly marked in red paint.

On a nearby hill, right on the "Blue Line" demarcated by the United Nations in 2000 as the border between Israel and Lebanon, stood the abandoned Position 9.63 of UNIFIL's pre-war observer force.

"These observation posts were evacuated during the July and August offensive because they were right on the frontline. Many bombs fell in the area and the roads are riddled with explosives," said Alarcon.

About one kilometre (about 1,000 yards) from the border, on the Lebanese side, behind a hillock and amid camouflage, soldiers on an Israeli armoured vehicle and a bulldozer kept watch over the patrol's movements.

The Israelis, who the Indian peacekeepers said had crossed over earlier the same day through one of the openings on the border, ignored the greetings of the Spaniards.

"If they haven't moved when we take control of the zone, we will signal their presence to the United Nations and await instructions. In any case, there are few Israeli positions left," another Spanish soldier said.

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which established an August 14 ceasefire to the month-long war, Israeli troops have to withdraw from Lebanese territory.

Israel had set a minimum presence of 5,000 UNIFIL troops before it would withdraw, a threshold crossed last week as more foreign peacekeepers arrive, but it has delayed the pullout until next week after the Jewish New Year holiday.

"They appear and then vanish from one day to the next. We haven't had any problem with them. The situation is simply ... strained," said an Indian officer.

Wearing a crisp blue turban, the Sikh captain briefed the Spaniards on the number of men under his command, the risks they faced and how they reacted to the Israelis. The 24 Indians stationed at the post had counted 240 artillery shells crashing nearby.

At places, the UN posts lie very close to Israeli townships, such as Metulla, right across the border from Kfarkila.

"But the situation's calm. Apart from the explosives, I think the biggest danger today in Lebanon is a car accident because people drive so badly in this country," said Captain Alarcon.

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