LEBANON: Convoys of French troops bringing hardware equipment travel to their military base in Naqoura to help expand a U.N. peace contingent

A convoy of French troops passed through Sidon on Saturday (August 26), to the indifference of the local population. The convoy brought mechanical and logistical support equipment to help expand a U.N. peace contingent in Lebanon. One unidentified man wasn't happy to see the French troops back in Southern Lebanon in great numbers. "Look," he said, pointing his arm. "This is the French. They are working with the Israelis, not for the Lebanese... I am against the presence of French troops here," he said. Meanwhile, a convoy of French troops travelled along the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where they would join their UN colleagues. European nations agreed on Friday (August 25) to offer more than half the troops for an expanded United Nations peacekeeping contingent in Lebanon. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Europe's total contribution would be between 6,500 and 7,000, while his Irish counterpart Dermot Ahern put it as high as 9,000 and Italy's Massimo d'Alema raised the figure to as many as 10,000. U.N. officials want a strong European contingent alongside a sizeable Muslim component in the expanded UNIFIL force, which is to work with 15,000 Lebanese troops being deployed in the south. But French President Jacques Chirac, whose diplomats helped draft the Aug. 11 U.N. Security Council resolution on the peacekeepers, said a force of 15,000 was "completely excessive". Annan insisted in Brussels that 15,000 remained the U.N.'s "working figure" and added; "We will put in the men and assets required to get the job done -- no more, no less." The U.N.-backed truce took effect on August 14 after 34 days of fighting which killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers. Some 150 French soldiers arrived by ship in Lebanon's southern port of Naqoura on Friday to join 50 extra troops already sent as part of France's initial offer of 200. Israel wants the beefed-up U.N. force to move to the border before it withdraws fully from Lebanon. It also has vowed to keep its partial sea and air blockade on Lebanon until the force deploys on the Syrian border to prevent Hizbollah from rearming. Syria has threatened to close the border -- Lebanon's only land outlet -- if U.N. troops are sent there.

ITN Source | August 27, 2006

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