The Lebanese Shiite militia closed all their positions in the Arqub mountain area, using bulldozers to level checkpoints and shut the entrances of tunnels and caves, they said.

The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area, in the first such move into the border region of southern Lebanon in decades.

The deployment comes after a month-long Israeli offensive launched after Hezbollah captured two soldiers on the border on July 12.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ceased after UN Security Council Resolution 1701 imposed a ceasefire on August 14.

Hezbollah has vowed to fight to free the Shebaa Farms area from Israeli occupation.

Israel captured the small, mountainous territory between Lebanon, Syria and Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, but it is now claimed by Beirut with the backing of Damascus.