LEBANON: Italian PM Prodi meets Italian troops in south Lebanon

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi met Italian troops forming part of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Wednesday (October 11). Prodi visited the Italian military base in the southern Lebanese town of Tebnin after meeting Lebanese Prime minister Fouad Siniora in Beirut and other Lebanese officials . Italy is the leading contributor to the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, with 2,500 troops . Italian troops were stationed last month in the south and,with the Lebanese army and other UNIFIL troops, took over security control of the south of Lebanon after Israel formally pulled out of the region. Prodi pledged support for Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is 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. Siniora has faced pressure since the war ended on Aug 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 Hezbollah'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 U.N. mediation on the prisoner issue. ITALIAN MILITARY

ITN Source | October 11, 2006

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