WASHINGTON Ñ The United Nations has agreed to transfer a video connected to the Hizbullah abduction of three Israelis soldiers in October amid Israeli suspicion that peacekeepers helped the Shi'ite operation.

UN officials said the videotape will be handed over to Israel but that the faces of Hizbullah members have been blurred. The officials said this was done to ensure that Hizbullah does not retaliate against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

UN officials said the video demanded by Israel would be relayed to Israel, Middle East Newsline reported. The video was said to have been taken 18 hours after three Israeli soldiers were attacked and kidnapped by Hizbullah in the disputed Shebaa plateau. Officials said the video does not shed new light on the abduction.

Israeli sources said the video shows the UN vehicles used by Hizbullah during the kidnapping and demonstrates that Hizbullah posed as UN peacekeeping troops to gain access to Shebaa. They said the UN has another video that records the actual kidnapping.

The sources said Israel's military is demanding an uncensored video and suspects that at least one UN peacekeeper knew of the abduction in advance.

The videotape currently being demanded by Israel was recorded by a member of the Indian peacekeeping contingent. The sources said he or another member might have cooperated in the abduction.

Lebanon was also offered the videotape, officials said. But the government in Beirut refused to accept it.

"The Lebanese authorities regard the showing of this tape as a dangerous precedent and a 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," a statement by the office of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said.

In Beirut, the Hizbullah said the UN decision to relay the videotape to Israel casts doubt as to its role as peacekeeper in the region. A Hizbullah statement said the movement's position was relayed to UN officials.

On Friday, U.S. Middle East envoy William Burns met Lebanese leaders and urged for restraint along the Israeli-Lebanese border. On Saturday, Burns discussed the regional tension with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

On Sunday, the Times of London reports that an Iranian missile unit has deployed along the southern Lebanese border with Israel. The newspaper said the unit has deployed the Fajr-5 rocket, with a range of 45 kilometers.

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