Italy proposes EU help guard Syria-Lebanon border

ROME, Sep 9 (Reuters) Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi today proposed that European Union personnel should patrol the border between Syria and Lebanon to stop illegal arms shipments to Hizbollah guerrillas.

Prodi said he had presented his proposal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who ''gave his firm agreement in principle'', and the idea was also backed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

''The EU has significant experience in training and deploying border guards so I expressed (to Assad) the idea of an EU mission to the frontier between Syria and Lebanon,'' Prodi said in the southern Italian city of Bari.

He said he hoped the proposal would be discussed at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on September 14.

Syria and Iran are widely believed to ship arms and money to the Lebanese-based Hizbollah militia which was in conflict with Israel until an August 14 ceasefire halted 34 days of war.

The EU personnel would be unarmed and would not wear uniforms in order to respect Syrian sovereignty, Prodi said, and would bolster 500 Syrian border guards that Assad has already committed.

Sending EU guards would ''offer a further guarantee of security to Israel and indicate Damascus's willingness to co-operate with the international community to stabilise the region,'' Prodi said.

Italy has already deployed 1,000 troops to Lebanon as part of the UN force of around 3,100.

More Italian and other international troops will soon reach the region and Annan has said Israel should complete its withdrawal once 5,000 UN troops were on the ground.

REUTERS SBA BST2149