LEBANON: Lebanese troops arrive at the Shebaa Farms to resounding welcome

Lebanese troops moved deeper into the south and about 600 deployed in Shebaa village, near the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms enclave, a key source of tension between Israel and Hizbollah before the war. Residents took to the streets celebrating the arrival of the Lebanese army. Women showered troops with rice and flowers as they rolled in with their heavy armoured vehicles. Other sacrificed sheep as a symbol of good luck. The Lebanese army has had no presence in the area since an Arab decision allowed Palestinian guerrillas to operate there nearly 40 years ago. Israel's 1982 invasion expelled the Palestinians. Hizbollah took over the "Fatah-land" region after the Israeli military ended a 22-year occupation of the south in 2000. On Thursday (August 16) the Lebanese army began deploying a force that will eventually number 15,000 soldiers south of the Litani River, about 20 km (13 miles) from the border with Israel. The same day France dealt a blow to hopes of building a strong U.N. force to back the army as Israeli troops withdraw. The United Nations said it had received substantial troop offers, but was disappointed that France only planned to send 200 additional soldiers to a force it had been expected to lead. Italy's government approved sending troops and the defence minister said his country might eventually lead the mission. Officials have said Italy might contribute up to 3,000 troops. France's reticence to contribute more troops follows disastrous peacekeeping missions in the past. It lost 58 paratroopers to a suicide bomb attack in Beirut in 1983 and some 84 soldiers in Bosnia in the early 1990s. Hizbollah fighters have melted away as the Lebanese army arrived, but they have not left the south or given up the rocket launchers they used to bombard Israel during the conflict.

ITN Source | August 20, 2006

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