Special report: Israel-Lebanon Conflicts   [ Video ][Gallery]

    MADRID, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government said on Friday that it would send 800-1,000 soldiers to join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

    It would be the country's largest single armed operation overseas.

    Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told reporters that plans about sending troops to the enlarged UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were agreed upon at meetings between Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and his European counterparts in Brussels earlier in the day.

    Plans to send Spanish troops overseas need approval from parliament in line with the National Defense Law, she added.

    The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1701 early this month, which authorizes an expansion of UNIFIL from its current 1,990-strong force to 15,000 troops in order to monitor the shaky truce between Lebanon's Hezbollah group and Israel following their month-long fighting.

    Spain currently has 2,047 troops overseas assigned to missions in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Spain has also contributed 82 police officers to an airborne police operation in the Baltic. Enditem

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    EU pledges half of troops needed for Lebanon mission

    

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (R) speaks next to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana during a news conference at the end of an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels August 25, 2006.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

BRUSSELS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Member states of the European Union (EU) have pledged more than half of the forces needed for a UN mission in south Lebanon, said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan here on Friday.

    "Europe is providing the backbone of the force," Annan told reporters after an extraordinary meeting of the EU foreign ministers.

    Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, who chaired the meeting, said EU member states have pledged between 5,600 and 6,900 new troops for the UN mission in Lebanon.

    In addition, EU countries have also pledged naval, air and logistic support for the mission.

    The ground troops and support staff combined will exceed half of the 15,000 personnel for the mission agreed on by the UN Security Council earlier this month.

    EU countries have already ground troops in the current 2,000-strong UN mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL. The new 15,000-strong UN mission is called UNIFIL 2 by Annan. Full story>>

    France waiting for European countries' commitment to UNIFIL: FM

    PARIS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- France, which announced on Thursday it would contribute a total of 2,000 troops to the enlarged UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was waiting for its European partners' commitment to the force, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Friday.

    Douste-Blazy told RTL radio that French President Jacques Chirac had cleared up the misunderstanding by Thursday's announcement, which was a significant effort. Full story>>

    France pledges to send 2000 troops to Lebanon

    BEIJING, Aug. 25 -- French president Jacques Chirac has announced that his country will send a total of two-thousand troops to join the UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Friday to discuss their shares of troops in the UN forces.

    In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Chirac said the United Nations had provided security and efficiency guarantees enabling France to increase its shares of troops. He clarified that the two thousand soldiers include the 400 military personnel already present on the ground.

In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Chirac said the United Nations had provided security and efficiency guarantees enabling France to increase its shares of troops.(Photo: CCTV) Photo Gallery >>>

    "France is ready, should the UN want it, to carry on and assume the commandment of the UN force. We will evaluate this disposal within six months, examining the evolution of the situation." Full story>>