French troops join Lebanon force

By Nadim Ladki

BEIRUT (Reuters) – About 150 French soldiers joined U.N.
troops in Lebanon on Friday as European ministers prepared to
meet U.N. chief Kofi Annan to clinch Europe’s role in a force
charged with reinforcing a truce between Israel and Hizbollah.

Italy has offered up to 3,000 troops and France boosted its
pledge to 2,000 on the eve of the Brussels meeting; but other
contributions to the potentially hazardous mission have been
meager, despite prompting from the United States and others.

Belgium, however, pledged an “important participation” in
the force on Friday.

The French soldiers who arrived by ship in the southern
port of Naqoura are part of France’s initial offer of 200 extra
soldiers. Around 50 French troops arrived last week.

Finland, which will chair emergency talks of the European
Union’s 25 foreign ministers and the U.N. secretary-general,
insisted the EU’s credibility was at stake and that it must
show it can deploy rapidly to protect a fragile ceasefire.

“The main thrust of the force should be there within a few
weeks because every day there is a risk that the ceasefire
could unravel,” said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja,
whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

U.N. officials see a strong European contingent as vital to
the balance of an expanded peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL,
which is set to have up to 15,000 troops and to work alongside
a similar number of Lebanese soldiers in the south.

The U.N.-backed truce took effect on August 14 after 34
days of fighting which cost the lives of nearly 1,200 people in
Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.

President Jacques Chirac, who disappointed allies by
initially offering only to double an existing French contingent
to 400, said France would increase its deployment after winning
assurances they would be able to defend themselves robustly.

President Bush hailed the new French offer.

“This is an important step toward finalising preparations
to deploy the United Nations Interim Force of Lebanon,” he
said.

“WEAK ARMY”

Israel wants the beefed-up U.N. force to deploy alongside
the Lebanese army before it withdraws fully from Lebanon. It
also has vowed to keep its partial sea and air blockade on
Lebanon until the force is monitoring the border with Syria.

“Israel doesn’t expect or request that international forces
arrive to defend its borders. Israel is capable of defending
itself and that is what we plan to do,” Israeli Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni said.

“But the international forces are needed to help the
Lebanese army — which is unfortunately a weak army — to
deploy in the south and replace Hizbollah in south Lebanon and
of course, to enforce the arms embargo on Hizbollah.”

Lebanon said on Thursday it would seek technical assistance
from Germany to help control the border with Syria, but had no
immediate plans to ask UNIFIL to deploy soldiers there.

Syria threatened a day earlier to close the border if U.N.
troops were sent there.

In a sharp public rebuke over his handling of the war in
Lebanon, a poll published on Friday showed 63 percent of
Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

The Yedioth Aronoth poll showed for the first time a
majority favoured Olmert quitting, along with a surge in
support for the rightwing Likud party and its leader Benjamin
Netanyahu.

Another poll in Maariv newspaper showed only 14 percent of
Israelis would vote for Olmert if new elections were held
today, while 26 percent would back Netanyahu, a former prime
minister.

The Yedioth poll said 45 percent would support Netanyahu as
prime minister in new elections.

Yedioth, Israel’s biggest circulation daily, called the
poll a political “earthquake” for Olmert, whose centrist Kadima
party crushed Netanyahu’s Likud in March elections. A similar
survey a week ago showed 41 percent wanted Olmert to resign.

Olmert, a career politician who lacks the combat
credentials of many of his predecessors, has seen his public
standing plummet for failing to deliver a fatal blow to
Hizbollah.

(Additional reporting by Jerusalem and Brussels bureaux)