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Middle East
Unifil control shifts to Italy
Hezbollah leader guarantees the safety of troops from the UN mission.
Last Modified: 17 Feb 2007 10:33 GMT
UN forces patrol southern Lebanon villages and monitor activity on the Israel border

Italy is taking over control of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) from France, which has commanded the force since February 2004.
 
Claudio Graziano of Italy on Saturday takes over as major-general of the force from Alain Pellegrini of France, after being appointed to the position by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.
The handover comes as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave his support to the mission and guaranteed the safety of Unifil troops.
 
Al Jazeera's correspondent Zeina Khodr spent a day with Spanish peacekeeping forces on patrol in south Lebanon.
The peacekeepers are charged with making sure the border is not violated by either side and border observation is one of their daily tasks, Khodr reported.
 

She said: "Some of the marking outlining the UN's blue line were erased during the war last summer and new ones need to be put in place to avoid disputes over possible breaches."

 

Border control

 

Unifil's area of operations extends from the Lebanon-Israel border to the Litani river.

 

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More than 12,000 UN soldiers from 26 countries and about 15,000 Lebanese army soldiers patrol an area of 2,000 square kilometres - an area free of weapons except those of the Lebanese army.

 

Major Pedro Diaz Herrero, spokesman of Unifil's Spanish troops, said: "We report any illegal activity to our headquarters and the Lebanese army. And the Lebanese army comes quickly to solve the problem and act against any illegal activity."

 

Another daily task of the force is to patrol the villages in south Lebanon.

 

Khodr reported that soldiers from the Spanish contingent previously engaged in a minor quarrel with residents of a village just outside their area of deployment.

 

Unifil said they were inspecting routes, but the locals accused them of spying on Hezbollah.

 

Hezbollah still enjoys support in south Lebanon and new posters and flags have been posted along the border, Khodr said.

 

She said: "It was a response to Israel, which said the UN deployment was a major achievement of the war since Hezbollah fighters and weapons were pushed away from the frontier."

Source:
Al Jazeera
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