EU to provide half of UN force in Lebanon

The European Union has pledged up to 7,000 troops needed for a beefed-up UN force in southern Lebanon, UN chief Kofi Annan said, according to the BBC.

Speaking Friday after talks with EU diplomats in Brussels, Annan said that the peacekeeping force, mandated to police a UN-brokered truce between Israel and Hezbollah, would be led by France and that the first troops would arrive within days.

"More than half the force has been pledged today. Not only troops on the ground but we also got naval assets as well as air assets and when you put it all together Europe is providing the backbone to the force," he said.

Annan also said that he had asked Italy to take over command of the force from France next February.

Italy is expected to send more than 3,000 soldiers to Lebanon, which would make it the biggest contributor to the force.

Other EU contributors include Spain, which would send between 1,000 to 1,200 soldiers, Poland 300 in addition to the 200 currently serving in Lebanon, Belgium 300 and Finland 250.

Portugal and Latvia have also indicated they could send soldiers, but no details were given Friday.

A top UN spokesman, Edward Mortimer, told the BBC, that several Asian nations have also offered to contribute to the UN force.

He added that the UN was also hoping to get an offer of troops from predominantly Muslim Turkey, which he said would be very important given the country's history and geographical position.

Muslim states, such as Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia, have offered to participate in the UN force, but Israel opposed troop contributions from these countries because they don’t have diplomatic relations with it.

Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Finland, which currently holds the EU presidency, said that sending the whole force would take up to three months.

Israel insists that it won’t withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon unless the whole UN force is deployed.

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry also said today that Israel won’t lift an air and sea blockade on Lebanon unless Hezbollah is disarmed.

UN, EU and aid officials have been calling on Israel to lift the blockade in order to ease hardships on nearly a million Lebanese civilians displaced by the 34-day Israeli offensive, which also claimed the lives of more than 1,200 civilians and wounded at least 4,000 others.