Italy offers to lead Lebanon UN force

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said yesterday his country was ready to lead a UN force in south Lebanon, where shooting by Israeli troops at Hizbollah fighters showed the fragility of a week-old truce.

Mr Prodi told reporters in Italy that he had informed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who he said would make a final decision on the command of the force this weekend.

The Beirut government welcomed Italy's offer of 2,000 troops, the biggest commitment any country has yet made. Israel has already said it would be happy if Italy led the force.

Italy's right-wing opposition warned the deployment could prove a "kamikaze" mission.

US President George W. Bush called earlier for the urgent dispatch of UN peacekeepers to south Lebanon, Turkey, Spain and other countries are still hesitating over whether to send contingents after France, earlier tipped to lead the force, sharply reduced its anticipated contribution.

"The international community must now designate the leadership of this international force, give it robust rules of engagement and deploy it as quickly as possible to secure the peace," Mr Bush told a news conference in Washington.

Mr Bush also announced a $230 million aid package to Lebanon that includes 25,000 tonnes of wheat.

In a sign of how shaky the truce is, the Israeli army said its troops had shot and hit three armed men in the south, but did not say if they had been killed. It said there had been no return fire. Hizbollah denied any of its men had been killed.