A Lebanese security source said warplanes and helicopters attacked unidentified targets during an airdrop of commandos at dawn around the village of Bodai, west of the ancient city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley.
Such an assault would be the first major attack since a UN truce ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and the Shi'te Muslim group Hezbollah.
UN appeal
Reports of the raid come on the heels of an urgent United Nations appeal for European countries to contribute more troops to the peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
The call came as Lebanese troops continue to press on with their deployment into south Lebanon.
UN Deputy Secretary General, Mark Malloch Brown said while Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Nepal had all offered troops as part of the expanded UN force there was a need to deploy a balanced European-Muslim force that would be acceptable to both Lebanon and Israel.
"…we want this force that we deploy to have a kind of multinational, multilateral character so that it enjoys the confidence of both sides," he said.
The call came amid signs that Israel is balking at the prospect of countries with which it has no diplomatic relations, such as Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, being deployed on its border to police the ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The scope of the force and its rules of engagement were believed to be the major stumbling blocks for European nations, but the deputy secretary general said countries now had full details and should be ready to decide on a role.
French troops fall short
France has already announced that it would contribute an extra 200 troops but the size of the contingent falls far short of the major commanding role that many had anticipated for the former colonial power in Lebanon.
US President George W Bush said he hoped France would reconsider its decision and dispatch more troops, noting that "there have been different signals coming out of France."
In Rome, the cabinet gave its approval in principle to the deployment of Italian troops, but Prime Minister Romano Prodi declined to give any firm commitment on numbers saying the matter had "not yet been examined".
The Prime Minister said that as well as a clear mandate, the UN force needed Hezbollah's blessing if Italy were to take part.
"On that point, I have been given commitments from (Lebanese Prime Minister) Fuad Siniora," he said.
The expanded UN Interim Forces in Lebanon will be charged with policing the fledgling ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel until the full 15,000 peacekeepers stipulated by the Security Council resolution can be found and deployed.
Troops
Meanwhile Lebanese troops have taken up positions in the heavily bombed border town of Khiam, deploying outside a school in the hilltop town of 35,000 people just seven kilometres from the Israeli border.
The town had been a stronghold of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah since Israel last pulled out in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.
Israel says it has now withdrawn from two-thirds of its positions in southern Lebanon, including the port city of Tyre and the villages of Qana, Hadatha and Beit Yahoun.
Asked how long it would take Israel to complete the pullout, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said it would be "in terms of weeks…maybe one week, two weeks."
Families return
Meanwhile, thousands of families displaced by the conflict continued to flock home to the south, as foreign aid groups voiced concern about getting emergency supplies to the most stricken regions through Israel's continuing blockade.
UN aid agencies said 400,000 people in Lebanon have returned to their home areas and another 107,000 refugees who fled to neighbouring Syria have crossed back into Lebanon.
The aid minister of Finland, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, said up to 30,000 homes had been destroyed in the Israeli bombardment.
"That makes at least 100,000 people without a home and decent shelter," Paula Lehtomaeki said, warning that basic shelter was needed because winter was fast approaching.
Despite urgent appeals from the European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Israel says it will enforce the air and sea blockade it imposed on Lebanon at the start of the conflict until it has completed its pullout.
Planes and ships would only be given clearance on a case-by-case basis through the United Nations.