BEIRUT, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The German government has agreed to extend its naval troops' mandate in the United Nation Interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for 15 months, Lebanon's Naharnet website reported Wednesday.

    Germany made the decision on Tuesday, though the number of German personnel in the UNIFIL will reduce to 1200 from 1400, due to the progress of the Lebanese military in building up its own naval force, a German official Urich Wilhelm was quoted as saying.

    There are now 230 German sailors deployed off the Lebanese coast, while the command of the UNIFIL maritime forces moved from Germany to Italy, and recently to France.

    The naval presence, which was established following the 34-day war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah in July 2006, is aimed to prevent arms smuggling into the country via sea.

    Since the deployment, no illegal armed shipments have been found, although 150 suspected ships have been searched out of 18,000 ships which entered Lebanese ports.