BEIRUT Lebanon on Saturday denounced a UN plan to show Israel a videotape of Hizbollah members who may be involved in the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border last October.

The tape, which the United Nations at first denied existed, was made by a UN soldier in South Lebanon a day after the abduction, a senior UN peacekeeping official said on Friday.

He said the faces of people he identified as Hizbollah appearing in the video would be obscured on copies of the tape shown to Israeli and Lebanese officials because the peacekeepers could not deliver intelligence to either side.

"The Lebanese authorities regard the showing of this tape as a dangerous precedent and the transfer of information from inside Lebanese soil to the Israeli enemy, which represents a departure from the mission of the international forces in the south," said a statement from President Emile Lahoud's office.

It added that the Lebanese authorities had refused an offer to view the tape.

Hizbollah -- a main force in driving Israel from South Lebanon last year after a 22-year occupation -- vows also to drive the Zionist state from Shebaa Farms, which it as well as Beirut and Damascus claim is Lebanese soil.

The UN has endorsed Israel's pullout as complete, and regards Shebaa Farms as occupied Syrian territory.

(Reuter)