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Fragile peace in place in Lebanon, int'l force to come in 10 days

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Beirut, Aug 16, IRNA
UN-Lebanon-Peace
The foreign ministers of France, Turkey and Malaysia arrived in Beirut on Wednesday to work out details on formation of a 15,000-strong international force to oversee peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon.

The force would work with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers to monitor the cease-fire that went into effect Monday morning ending 34 days of Israeli brutal aggression on Lebanon.

The diplomatic efforts came as the Israeli army began withdrawing part of its troops from south Lebanon while Lebanese troops planned to start moving across the Litani River on Thursday.

The UN hopes 3,500 well-equipped international troops can reinforce the UN contingent within 10 to 15 days to help consolidate the fragile cessation of hostilities and create the conditions for the occupying forces to pull out.

Some 500 Israeli soldiers left Lebanon on foot crossing the border on their way back home near the town of Malkiya today.

France was expected to lead the international force. The Italian foreign minister has already visited Beirut and subsequently pledged as many as 3,000 troops. Indonesia and a dozen other countries have also expressed willingness to help.

However, it remained unclear, according to Assistant UN Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi, how quickly a full force could be assembled and deployed to Lebanon.

The 2,000-strong UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL that has been in south Lebanon for over two decades was to temporarily take up positions along the border.

The zone along the frontier would then be handed to Lebanese troops and the greatly reinforced UNIFIL force once all Israeli soldiers have withdrawn.

"We agreed with the Lebanese army that it will start deploying as the Israelis start withdrawing. It could be as early as Thursday, maybe with a slight delay," he said.

Those plans, however, depend on the Lebanese government giving the order for the army to move towards south of the Litani.

At least 15 more bodies were found on Tuesday in two villages near the border, Ainata and Taybeh. Lebanese army sent teams across south Lebanon to clear unexploded ordnance from the battlefield.

A 12-year-old girl was wounded by an explosion in her village east of Nabatiyeh on Tuesday.

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