Israel_s Cabinet voted unanimously Sunday to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon by July, a pullback that would end an 18-year occupation.

A Cabinet statement said the government would "act to ensure" that the pullout come within the framework of a peace deal with Syria, the main power in Lebanon. Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has been trying to revive stalled peace talks with Syria, has said he prefers a withdrawal based on an agreement. But he has been suggesting for some time that Israel might withdraw unilaterally. In 1985, Israel set up an occupied buffer zone in Lebanon near the northern Israeli border to protect its border towns from guerrilla attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said since he took office last May that he would withdraw, and Sunday_s unanimous Cabinet decision backed him up. The Israeli decision came as fighting raged in southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes blasted suspected guerrilla targets following guerrilla attacks Saturday night and Sunday morning. An Israeli soldier was wounded and two militants were reportedly killed in the fighting.