Lebanese deployment begins today: France agrees to lead UN force
PARIS, Aug 16: France is ready to take command of an enlarged United Nations force in Lebanon until February, Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Wednesday. The Lebanese government, meanwhile, has decided to start the deployment of 15,000 of its troops in bomb-battered south Lebanon on Thursday. In a related development, Israeli troops began pulling back from parts of south Lebanon on Wednesday evening.
“France has been in UNIFIL (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon) since 1978 and we are in command today,” Ms Alliot-Marie said on French television. “We are going to continue to maintain this command, we are ready to do so until next February, including for an enlarged UNIFIL.”
Her comments came after the UN on Tuesday said it hoped an initial deployment of more than 3,000 troops for the strengthened force could be in place within two weeks to shore up the fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1701, unanimously adopted on Friday, gives a mandate for UNIFIL to swell from its current level of 1,990 troops to 15,000.
The Lebanese government on Wednesday decided to start the deployment of 15,000 of its troops in south Lebanon on Thursday.
In Al Quds, an Israeli spokeswoman said Israeli troops had begun pulling back from parts of south Lebanon on Wednesday evening, handing over control to the existing UN peacekeeping force.
“The Israeli army began its phased withdrawal by pulling back from several sectors of south Lebanon, including near Marjayun and north of Bint Jbeil, where control was handed over to UNIFIL,” the spokeswoman told AFP.
She said that so far Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Australia had said they were ready in principle to help make up the enlarged force.—AFP
