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Israel wants Rome meeting to disarm Hezbollah, create buffer force
Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Rome- Israel wants a high-level Mideast crisis meeting in Rome on Wednesday to help disarm Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and replace the Shiite militants with a buffer force of Lebanese army and international troops, officials said.

The one-day conference, which brings together most key Middle East players, is expected to give top priority to calls by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for deploying a robust peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Israeli leaders announced earlier this week they would support such a force as long as it was combat-ready and given a strong mandate.

Calls for a truce to end Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah missile attacks on Israel are also likely to be spotlighted at the meeting.

But Israeli leaders and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - who is due to attend the meeting - have both underlined they will only back a ceasefire as part of a long-term solution to the crisis.

"Israel is willing to consider a ceasefire but it has to be in the framework of a total solution and not one that would leave the place open for Hezbollah to rearm itself and retake control over southern Lebanon," said Israeli government spokeswoman Tali Shemesh.

The UN's Annan, who arrived in Rome on Tuesday in advance of the meeting, insisted that Lebanon must be given the means to disarm Hezbollah but he cautioned this could not be done through force alone.

"What is important is that we leave Rome with a concrete strategy as to how we are going to deal with this and we do not walk away empty-handed, and once again dash the hopes of those caught in this conflict," said Annan.

Some 380 Lebanese - most of them civilians - and at least 39 Israelis have been killed in the conflict which began on July 12 after Hezbollah attacked an Israeli military post killing eight soldiers and abducting two others.

Israeli forces have subsequently destroyed large parts of Lebanon's infrastructure and ground troops are now slowing moving into Hezbollah-held territory in southern Lebanon.

A total of 14 countries are expected to attend the Rome conference include the US, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Canada, the European Union, the UN and the World Bank.

Aside from Israel and Lebanon, those due to take part from the Middle East are Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The three Arab states say they will present a plan calling for a ceasefire followed by the Lebanese government extending its authority into Hezbollah areas.

Significantly, however, neither Iran nor Syria have been invited to the Rome conference. Tehran and Damascus are Hezbollah's main backers. No representatives of Hezbollah are taking part.

Both Annan and Israel are pushing for implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for disarming Hezbollah and deployment of the Lebanese Army in southern Lebanon instead of the Shiite militants.

"What we are expecting of the international community in that framework of Rome is to find the right manner of helping Lebanon to take again control of the southern Lebanon region," said Israeli spokeswoman Shemesh.

She said Israel wanted the conference to agree an international force that would be able to play an "active" role in southern Lebanon. This could be either NATO or another international force, as long as it had both a strong mandate and military means. "That was missing when it was UNIFIL which was only an observer mission," Shemesh told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which currently has 1,900 troops in the country, was created in 1978. Its mission was to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area.

But its observer status meant it lacked any mandate to enforce UN resolutions with military means.

Shemesh said a new international force could either deploy in southern Lebanon alongside the Lebanese Army, or take up positions in southern Lebanon before the Lebanese Army did, but it needed to avoid the creation of a vacuum if Hezbollah left.

The composition of possible force for south Lebanon is still being discussed but it appears likely that neither the US nor Britain would contribute any troops.

Germany would apparently be ready to send troops following a formal ceasefire, the release of Israeli prisoners and a request for such a peacekeeping force by all powers in the region, Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Monday.

France, which has colonial links to Lebanon, would also likely contribute soldiers but a French spokesman said President Jacques Chirac would only make a final decision at a later date.

"They would have to be given the means to carry out their mission," said the French spokesman, Jean-Baptiste Mattei.

Denmark's Defence Minister Soren Gade said his country would only be able to contribute a small number of troops for a Lebanon force.