The so-called Blue Line is the border demarcation between Israel and Lebanon that was drawn by U.N. cartographers after Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.

But parts of the Blue Line's markings, large blue plates mounted on posts, were removed during last summer's 34 day war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, creating confusion over where the border is located.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud accused Israel of exploiting that confusion and said he wants the army and U.N. peacekeepers to remark the Blue Line where the markers have been removed, according to a faxed statement from his office.

"Any tampering with the Blue Line markings in the southern border area would enable Israel to nibble at territories that Lebanon regained shortly after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000," the statement quoted Lahoud as saying.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said he was not aware of any territorial dispute between Lebanon and Israel.

"Israel has no claim whatsoever on a single inch of Lebanese territory," Regev said.

Lahoud said he asked Italy's Gen. Claudo Graziano, the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, called UNIFIL, to work with the Lebanese army at restoring the Blue Line markings that were removed during the war.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora also said in a statement Saturday that he sent a letter to the UNIFIL command stressing that Lebanon did not consider the Blue Line as international border "but a line to which the Israeli force withdrew in 2000."

Lebanon does not consider the Blue Line a final border but says its boundaries with Israel will be settled through an eventual peace agreement with the neighboring country.

In accordance with the Aug. 14 cease-fire agreement that ended the war, 15,000 Lebanese troops and about 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed in the south to create a weapons-free buffer zone along the border.

In the most serious incident since the war ended, Lebanese army troops exchanged fire with Israeli force late Wednesday when an Israeli bulldozer crossed the border fence just south of the village of Maroun el-Rass, Lebanese military officials have said.

The brief exchange caused some damage to a Lebanese armored vehicle but no casualties were reported on either side.

Lebanese leaders condemned the incident as an Israeli violation of Lebanese territory, but Israel said its army acted inside its own territory. UNIFIL sent tanks and armored vehicles to investigate.

A UNIFIL spokesman has said the exchange of fire was initiated by the Lebanese army when the Israeli bulldozer crossed a "technical fence" to clear mines.

That "technical fence" was built by the Israelis in their territory but it is not at the Blue Line, and Israel controls additional territory between the fence and the U.N.-drawn border.

Sources: IHT , AP,