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Italy Urges EU to Send Troops to Lebanon

Rome has joined the chorus of voices from the U.S. and UN and is pressing fellow European Union member states to back its pledge of troops by sending their soldiers to join the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Italy has said it will provide as many as 3,000 troops out of European contingent that could be as many as 9,000. The UN has authorized a total force of 15,000 to deploy in southern Lebanon.

"Italy will be wanting to know where its European partners are," an EU diplomat said. Potential contributors, including Belgium, Spain and Nordic countries such as Finland, are concerned that the exact nature of the mission is not clearly defined. Others nations such as Britain and the Netherlands stress commitments elsewhere.

European troops are considered to be vital to the UN mission in Lebanon, but France has only offered 200 combat troops. 3,500 soldiers have been asked to deploy by September 2 for the beginning of the UN mission to begin enforcing the ceasefire between Hizballah and Israel. France was previously set to lead the force, but backed out at the last moment much to the chagrin of many.