Italy to send 1,000 troops to Lebanon

ROME (Reuters) – Italy will send its first 800 to 1,000
troops to Lebanon on Tuesday to join a U.N. peacekeeping force
there, a defense ministry source said on Saturday.

Italy, which has committed up to 3,000 troops to the
Lebanon mission, will send its first detachment by sea, in a
convoy led by the aircraft carrier Garibaldi which will sail
from the southern city of Brindisi and reach Lebanon on Friday.

European Union nations have agreed to provide more than
half the 15,000 peacekeeping troops being assembled to secure a
truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi plans to hold a cabinet meeting
on Monday to authorise the deployment of the troops. Italy will
lead the force after the end of the French mandate at the end
of February.

Prodi’s office said in a statement that he and U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed in talks on Saturday that
.”.. the commitments in Lebanon must move ahead quickly,
without forgetting the other political problems in the Middle
East, starting with the Palestinian problem.”

Prodi’s government hopes a successful mission in Lebanon
may pave the way for international peacekeepers to play a role
in a broader Middle East peace process between Israel and the
Palestinians.