ANKARA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States welcomed Turkish parliament's decision to approve dispatch of Turkish troops to Lebanon, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday.

    An unnamed U.S. Department of State executive was quoted assaying that the U.S. was pleased that Turkey would contribute to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

    This decision showed that Turkey was also contributing to the peace and stability in the Middle East, the executive said.

    The Turkish parliament on Tuesday evening approved the government's motion, authorizing the deployment of Turkish peacekeeping troops to Lebanon.

    The motion was passed when an absolute majority of the lawmakers, that is, 340 of the 550 parliament members voted "yes" in an extraordinary session to debate the government's deployment motion, thus making Turkey the second Muslim country to commit troops to Lebanon to monitor a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

    Speaking at the parliament on behalf of the government, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that "friendly and allied countries including the Lebanese government encouraged us to contribute troops to the expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since the Turkish Armed Forces successfully fulfilled its missions in foreign countries such as Bosnia and Afghanistan."

    He said that "not only France, Spain and Italy, but also Turkey is responsible for providing security in the Mediterranean."

    He, however, stressed that Turkish troops would not be involved in disarmament efforts on Hezbollah, saying that "In our letter of intent to the United Nations, we also declared it."

    On Monday, Gul said that Turkish troops would withdraw from Lebanon if the troops were asked to fulfill duties other than humanitarian tasks.

    He said that the number of troops to be deployed would not exceed 1,000.

    Last week, the Turkish cabinet had decided "in principle" to contribute a contingent to the UNIFIL.

    The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 adopted on Aug. 11 calls for Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon and authorizes an increase of the existing UN force in Lebanon to 15,000 troops to help Lebanese government troops take control of south Lebanon after Israel withdrawal. Enditem