The last two weeks have seen an increase in standoffs in the border area, a bastion of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group. Last week, residents in Kabrikha village attacked French UNIFIL peacekeepers, seizing their weapons and wounding their leader.

Tension has been high since Israel accused Syria in April of transferring long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah. Lebanon and Syria denied the charge, but it fueled security concerns.

UNIFIL says its units respect the rights of Lebanon's civilians but residents of Kabrikha and five other villages in south Lebanon's border region said that in the past three months the French unit's behavior had became "provocative" and raised questions over their neutrality as a peacekeeping force.

"Recently they started to go ...between the houses and take pictures in the village. Once they took a picture of an old woman inside her house," said Ahmed Zahwi, a man in his 70s from Kabrikha.

"This is not acceptable here and our traditions do not allow that and we do not accept that. We told them once, twice and a third time and they never listened," he said angrily.

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Friday, at France's request, to discuss the confrontations. The Lebanese army will send an additional brigade to the south of the country following the skirmishes, a newspaper reported on Friday.

UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas said his force respected the villagers' culture, privacy and property. Problems should be resolved by discussion "not by obstructing the work of the peacekeepers or by beating them."

In an open letter to the people of south Lebanon which was published on Thursday, the Spanish major-general added: "Our soldiers have received clear orders not to take pictures unless absolutely necessary for operation reasons."

Some villagers said they were worried that Israel might be exerting pressure on France to spy on its behalf on Hezbollah, which is highly respected in the south and is considered the driving force behind Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000 after more than 22 years of occupation.

Washington labels Hezbollah a terrorist group.

"We do not know why they are doing this. Maybe Israel is behind them," said Mohamad Hmood from the village of Tebnin.

"If they continue like this we will ask their country to pull them out. This time people threw stones at them, next they might shoot at them," he said.

UNIFIL, which was set up in 1978 and expanded in 2006 to monitor the end of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, has insisted it must have freedom of movement.

Israel has criticized the UN peacekeeping operation in Lebanon for not stopping weapons it says are still flowing to Hezbollah guerrillas in the south. The United Nations says that is the responsibility of Lebanese authorities.

UN special coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said last week that there had been several confrontations in southern Lebanon and some were "clearly organized." Some Western diplomats say Hezbollah members have encouraged and taken part in the incidents, a charge the group and the villagers deny.

"When there is an attack on south Lebanon we are all Hezbollah and will all defend our land," said Ali Sofan from Joweya village.

"If Hezbollah did not want them here they wouldn't have lasted this long, and Hezbollah does not want this escalation," he said. His views are echoed by many people in south Lebanon.

Many in south Lebanon said they did not want UNIFIL to leave and that the problems would be over once the French unit changed its attitude toward them.

"There are Belgians, Italians, Spanish and others. They all run patrols in the villages and we welcome them. I do not know what happened to them (the French). They are very suspicious," said another local man, Abdullah Hajjar.

"They are focused on searching the villages. What for? We do not have anything and they say they are here to protect us — OK fine, let them protect our skies, our seas and our land.

"Don't they see the Israeli daily flights over Lebanon?"