World powers meet to push Lebanon aid, ceasefire

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister is pleading in Paris for support for his nation's army which would help secure any ceasefire, but a low-level US presence at the conference in France and a looming US election have dimmed prospects of a swift halt to fighting.

Some 70 government delegations and 15 international organisations met in Paris on Thursday aiming to raise at least 500 million euros ($A811 million) in humanitarian aid and push for a ceasefire, but with the US focused on its efforts, diplomats said they expected little concrete progress.

"The storm we are currently witnessing is unlike any other because it carries the seeds of total destruction, not only for our country but for all human values as well," Lebanon's Najib Mikati told delegates.

Mikati said international support would be needed to shore up the army, including recruits, and to rebuild the country's destroyed infrastructure.

France has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with Washington to try to secure a ceasefire.

But after Israel rebuffed a 21-day ceasefire plan in September, France's influence has been limited since Israel launched its large-scale onslaught on Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The offensive has killed more than 2000 people and displaced at least 1.2 million.

Opening the conference, France's President Emmanuel Macron said there would not be a return to the past in Lebanon and that a United Nations Security Council resolution that had failed to keep the peace would need to be fully implemented.

"There needs to be a ceasefire in Lebanon," he said.

"More damage, more victims, more strikes will not enable the end of terrorism or ensure security for everyone."

Despite the repeated calls for a ceasefire, there appeared no sign on Thursday of the conflict abating.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who skipped the Paris conference, continued a tour of the Middle East on a final push for peace before November's US election, while Saudi Arabia, which has been reluctant to engage in Lebanon, sent a junior minister.

Neither Israel, whose prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the initiative, nor Iran was invited.

Macron said France would provide 100 million euros ($A162 million) in aid, while Germany said it would give 96 million euros.

France's foreign ministry said the conference aimed to raise at least 500 million euros to primarily help up to one million displaced with food, health care and education.

Lebanon says it needs $A376 million a month to deal with the crisis.

Much of the focus in Paris is on the need to cease hostilities based on the 2006 UN Security Council resolution 1701, which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

The priority, officials said, was to begin ramping up support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), deemed as the guarantor of internal stability, but also vital to implementing 1701.

"The final objective is to recruit, train and equip 6000 new LAF units," an Italian diplomatic source said, adding that Rome would soon organise a conference focused on this.

Italy has some 1000 troops as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

Diplomats say that once there is a ceasefire the mission will need to be made more robust.

Paris is also pushing Lebanese actors - despite reluctance from some - to move forward on the election of a president to fill a two-year power vacuum before a ceasefire.