Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, flew to south Lebanon on Tuesday to see the devastated region where UN peacekeepers are attempting to bolster a fragile truce between Israel and Lebanon’s Hizbollah group.

On the second day of his Middle East tour, Mr Annan landed by helicopter in the southern town of Naqoura, base of the current 2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil). The force is set to expand to 13,000 troops under a UN ceasefire deal that took effect a fortnight ago.