Serious int'l mission needed in Lebanon-Peres

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

ROME, July 24 (Reuters) Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres wants a ''serious'' international force in southern Lebanon, adding in a newspaper interview that it didn't matter who ran it as long as it removed Hizbollah missiles from Lebanon's border.

''It doesn't matter who runs the mission, it's just important that the mission is accomplished. The Lebanese army, the United Nations, NATO -- as long as the Lebanese border is cleared of Hizbollah missile-launching pads,'' Peres told Italy's Corriere della Sera in an interview published today.

''But I want a serious mission, not one like UNIFIL, the UN observers who were not disarming the terrorists,'' he said.

Israel said yesterday it was prepared to back the deployment of a temporary peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon to ensure Hizbollah is removed from its border and to prevent the group from re-arming.

Defence Minister Amir Peretz suggested the force would be led by NATO, but Peres said he doubted that NATO could find the necessary consensus among its members to carry out such a mission.

''I am sceptical about NATO, it's an alliance that needs unanimous decisions to act, the 'no' of a member country is enough to block the intervention. And I can think of more than one NATO country who does not want to come here,'' he said, without elaborating.

REUTERS SRS SSC1325

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