BEIRUT, September 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Lebanon rejected Friday, September 3, a UN Security Council resolution demanding the withdrawal of foreign forces from the Arab country as the Lebanese parliament was to convene to discuss introducing constitutional amendments allowing Lebanese president Emile Lahoud to stay in office for three more years.

"Lebanon will not accept any plan which does not address the Israeli occupation of its land and is replaced by interference in its internal affairs," Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid as saying.

He said the UN resolution forms an unprecedented interference in Lebanon's internal affairs.

"This resolution is misplaced since it goes against the principles of non-interference in internal affairs, by UN member states," he said.

Syria, for its part, said the presidential election in Lebanon was an internal affairs.

"The Lebanese presidential election was an internal matter and there was no justification for the council to discuss the issue," Syrian ambassador to the UN Fayssal Mekdad, told reporters.

The UN Security Council has adopted Friday a resolution, put forward by the United States and France, demanding the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and non-interference in the Lebanese presidential elections.

The resolution, adopted by 9 countries with six abstentions did not name Syria though it is the only country that has forces in the Arab country.

The UN resolution came as the Lebanese parliament was to meet Friday at 6 p.m. local time to vote for constitutional amendments to allow the pro-Syria president Lahoud to stay in office for other three years.

Israel, for its part, welcomed the UN resolution.

"Israel welcomes this decision as Syria has been occupying Lebanon since 30 years and is killing its legitimate ambitions," a senior Israeli official, who declined to be named, told AFP.

He accused Syria of attempting to amend the Lebanese constitution to control the country.

Playing the same tone, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman told Israeli Radio that the UN resolution put Syria back in its place as a country supporting terrorism.

US Ambassador to the UN John Danforth, for his part, said it was necessary to act quickly before the Lebanese parliament allows the Lebanese president to stay for other term in office.

"The Lebanese parliament and the Lebanese cabinet should express the will of the Lebanese people through a free and fair presidential electoral process," Danforth told the council.

"What the Lebanese people and we have witnessed over the past week in terms of Syrian actions is a crude mockery of this principle," he said.

He viewed the resolution as a sign to the Syrian government to not interfere in the Lebanese presidential elections.

"The government of Syria has put the hammer on Lebanon, basically instructing Lebanon to amend the constitution -- not to change the election process, but to abort the election process, and to extend the term of the president by three years," the Associated Press reported.

"So if the Security Council is to speak about it, it has to speak about it right now."

France, for its part, said the new resolution came to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty.

"France believes that by acting firmly today, the Security Council is showing its confidence in Lebanon's future. This future must be marked by the restoration of its sovereignty and not by the intensification of outside interference," said French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere.

"This future must be marked by the restoration of its sovereignty and not by the intensification of outside interference," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Abstaining countries, on the other hand, said the UN resolution formed an unprecedented interference in the Lebanese internal affairs.