AN AGREEMENT putting a halt to more than two weeks of Israel Lebanon crossborder fighting was being finalised last night after intensive shuttle diplomacy by the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher.
The deal, hammered out via telephone consultations in Jerusalem and Damascus, provides for an immediate cessation of fire in both directions: Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, and the Katyusha rocket attacks by Hizbullah gunmen on northern Israel. It also obliges Syria to control Hizbullah's activities, and calls for the early resumption of Israeli Syrian peace negotiations.
The sudden acceleration towards a deal was apparently the result of Mr Christopher's threat, delivered to President Hafez al Assad of Syria at the start of several hours of talks yesterday, that he would not devote much more of his time to the mediation effort.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, is also understood to have upped the stakes, by threatening a marked escalation of the Israeli assault unless Syria - the power broker in Lebanon, with 35,000 troops permanently stationed there - agreed to ceasefire terms.
If the final terms of the deal do include a formal Syrian commitment to curb Hizbullah, while also guaranteeing Israel's right to respond should the rocket fire resume, Mr Peres will doubtless present the entire "Operation Grapes of Wrath" as a victory for his tactical acumen.
The downside for Israel, of course, has been the shattering blow to its image worldwide, and to Mr Peres's standing in the Arab world, in the wake of the tragic shelling of a UN base on April 18th, when over 100 Lebanese civilians were killed.
Meanwhile, in south Lebanon, two Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles into a village while Irish UN troops were delivering food parcels.
The Irish troops, in three Sisu armoured personnel carriers, had to leave the food on a deserted road in Shaqra because villagers were afraid to leave the shelter of their homes in case they were targeted by the Cobra helicopters.
The Israeli Defence forces claim that only Hizbullah guerillas remain in South Lebanon. They appear to be attacking any human movement other than the clearly marked white UN vehicles.