Italy backs Lebanese government

Beirut, Oct 11: Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi pledged support today for Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, under pressure from Hizbollah to reshuffle his government, saying Lebanon was key to regional stability.

Prodi, who met senior Lebanese officials, said Italy and the international community were committed to supporting political stability in Lebanon, which is struggling to pick up the pieces from the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

''Reconstruction does not mean material and physical reconstruction but the political reconstruction in Lebanon ...

This was the reason for my visit, to give the support of the Italian government ... for Fouad Siniora. He has really shown strong leadership in the most difficult moment,'' Prodi said.

''The stability of Lebanon is the instrument for stability of the area,'' he told a joint news conference with Siniora.

''What I wanted to stress is that not just Italy but the European Union and the international community is going to make an effort to help the stability of Lebanon and the stability of the area.'' Siniora has faced pressure since the war ended on August 14 to reshuffle the cabinet to include more allies of Hizbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla group close to Iran and Syria.

Hizbollah has claimed victory in the war, which cost the lives of more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis, but tensions with Siniora's Western-backed government have intensified in its aftermath.

Israeli air strikes during the conflict battered villages and infrastructure, throwing the economy into recession and increasing disputes between politicians who want to avoid further military entanglements and demand Hizbollah lay down its weapons, and those who support the group's role against Israel.

Fears are also rising that sectarian splits are deepening in Lebanon, especially between Shi'ite Muslims, who overwhelmingly support Hizbollah, and Sunni Muslims who helped lead the campaign for Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon after last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Israel's onslaught on Hizbollah was the worst violence to convulse Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war.

Siniora, a Sunni and close aide of Hariri, thanked Prodi for Italy's support in trying to end the Israeli-Hizbollah war.

Italy hosted an international conference at the height of the conflict to try seek a diplomatic solution and Prodi pledged on Wednesday Italy's support and friendship for postwar Lebanon.

Prodi said he had also raised the issue of the two Israeli soliders whose capture by Hizbollah guerrillas in a July 12 cross-border raid sparked the war.

The soldiers are still in Hizbollah's hands and the group has refused to release them except in exchange for Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.

It was not clear if there had been any progress in UN mediation on the prisoner issue.

Reuters