EU states signal readiness to join Lebanon force

BRUSSELS, July 24 (Reuters) Several European Union countries declared their readiness today to contribute to a United Nations peace force for Lebanon, but EU officials said questions remained over how it could fulfil its mission.

Germany, Greece, Italy and EU candidate Turkey signalled interest, while France has already expressed its willingness. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said substantial European involvement was a ''real possibility''.

''It is not an easy force to deploy but we have been working since Wednesday to try to construct a concept that would make it possible to deploy under the umbrella of the UN Security Council,'' Solana told reporters in Brussels.

''I think several member states of the European Union will be ready to provide all necessary assistance,'' he told a joint news conference with Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri after the two discussed the conflict.

He declined to say who would be responsible for disarming Iranian-backed Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas, who triggered the crisis by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing eight in a cross-border raid and have fired rockets into northern Israel.

Solana said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had told him as early as last Wednesday that Israel, traditionally wary of international forces on its border, would find such a force useful if it had a robust mandate.

Germany, which has in the past avoided any military presence in the West Asia because of its Nazi history, said sending troops was possible if there was a ceasefire, the Israeli soldiers were released and both sides agreed to it.

''We could not refuse a peace mission of this nature if these conditions were met and if requests were directed to us,'' Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung told N24 television.

NO FROM BRITAIN, NETHERLANDS A Greek Defence Ministry official said it was very likely Greece would participate in any EU or NATO force, while Turkey said it was willing as long as the mandate was clearly defined.

''It is possible that we can contribute to the peace force but first its content should become clear,'' said a Turkish Foreign Ministry official who declined to be named, doubting that it could have any role in disarming Hizbollah.

A NATO spokesman said no request had been put to the US-led defence alliance and there had been no political consultations about playing a role in Lebanon, which NATO sources said appeared unlikely.

Ireland said it would seriously consider any UN request for troops. But Britain and the Netherlands both said they would not take part, citing commitments elsewhere such as NATO peacekeeping in increasingly restive Afghanistan.

Solana said an international conference on Lebanon in Rome on Wednesday would discuss ''elements for guaranteeing security'', a global political solution and humanitarian assistance.

Portugal said it was pushing for an emergency meeting of the bloc to consider future action by the EU in the conflict.

Solana said the aim of any operation would be to implement UN Security Council resolution 1559 that led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon and called for the disarmament of militias -- a reference to Hizbollah.

Hariri, son of the former prime minister assassinated in 2004, called for a ''final global solution'' so that Lebanon was no longer a target of Israel's latest weaponry or a playground for other powers.

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