Second wave of Italian peacekeepers land in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Sep 3 (Reuters) Italian marines and military vehicles landed in Lebanon today, the second wave of troops and equipment to arrive as part of a beefed-up UN force to police the fragile truce between Israel and Hizbollah.

Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL, said 880 troops were expected to deploy around 15 km east of the southern port city of Tyre by the end of the day.

''The whole force will head to the staging area of Jabal Maroun today,'' Ivanko said.

They would later deploy in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim area between the village of Ras al-Ain south of Tyre and the Litani River to the north.

Soldiers in tanks drove through streets of bombed out buildings, greeted by small clusters of residents who shouted welcome and signalled ''V'' for victory.

Trucks and armoured vehicles carrying heavy machine guns landed in the small UNIFIL-run port of Naqoura. A military plane carrying equipment and 55 military personnel arrived in Beirut's international airport, while a ship carrying bulldozers and cranes docked at Beirut's port.

Around 400 troops, wearing blue UN berets and armed with assault rifles, landed in rubber dinghies and helicopters in Tyre on Saturday.

The Italian force brings to around 3,200 the number of peacekeepers in Lebanon. The United Nations has said Israeli forces who moved into south Lebanon during the 34-day war should withdraw fully as soon as 5,000 UN troops have arrived.

The troops will move into Lebanon to maintain a delicate truce which came into force on August 14, three days after the UN Security Council passed a resolution setting out terms of the ceasefire.

The truce has generally held but analysts have said it becomes more difficult to maintain the longer it takes UN forces to deploy.

5,000 WITHIN TO WEEKS The French commander of UNIFIL, Major-General Alain Pellegrini, said yesterday he expected to reach the 5,000-mark on the ground within two weeks.

Lebanese Defence Minister Elias al-Murr said he was told by a UN envoy on Saturday that the Israeli withdrawal would be completed in two to three weeks.

Hizbollah ignited the conflict when it captured two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid. Nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed in the war.

The UN Security Council fixed the target size of the force at 15,000 and the United Nations has recruited more than half that number. Italy, the largest contributor, is expected to send 3,000, France 2,000, Spain more than 1,000 and Indonesia 1,000 troops.

Germany said today it had cancelled a planned special cabinet meeting due on Monday at which the government was expected to give the go-ahead to send troops to join the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

The Beirut government has yet to send a formal request to Germany to deploy the troops, citing discussions in Lebanon, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told reporters. Lebanese cabinet officials said they had no knowledge of the matter.

Media reported on Friday that Germany was considering sending up to 2,000 troops, mainly navy personnel.

REUTERS LL KP2020