DUBAI (AFP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said on Tuesday the diplomatic struggle to secure a ceasefire with Israel will be fiercer than the month-old military conflict itself.

In an interview on Al-Arabiya television news channel, he praised the resistance of the Shiite Hezbollah militia as a strong negotiating card to be used in the diplomatic fight.

"The legendary effort exerted in holding off the brutal Israeli aggression, combined with the steadfastness of the Lebanese... are all essential means we use to fight the other fierce war," Siniora told the Dubai-based TV station.

"This (diplomatic) war does not involve blood but is fiercer than military fighting on the ground," he said in reference to intense battles between Israeli troops and Hezbollah and continued Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.

Siniora described Hezbollah's resistance as legendary.

"We should not forget the legendary steadfastness," he said, and added that the Lebanese should not resort to settling scores when the war ends but should instead concentrate on rebuilding the country "without looking back to the past".

Israeli army says Hezbollah far from defeated

The Israeli army acknowledged on Monday that Hezbollah was far from defeated despite nearly a month of fierce Israeli air, sea and ground assaults.

"Crushing Hezbollah is not like ordering pizza. It takes time," Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser told a news conference in Jerusalem a day after Hezbollah rockets killed 15 Israelis in the deadliest day of the war for the Jewish state.

Kuperwasser conceded there was little chance of completely eliminating Hezbollah's rocket-launching capability any time soon.

"We didn't finish the problem. They still have rockets and they're going to use them," he said.

Some Israeli officials have said that up to 80 percent of Hezbollah's longer-range missiles have been destroyed.

Kuperwasser denied the army had underestimated Hezbollah's capabilities.