Israel wants Muslim troops in UN force
Israel said on Saturday that it has been in touch with some Muslim countries to encourage them to participate in the expanded UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in Lebanon.
Mark Regev, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said the issue of participation in the force was primarily raised with Turkey.
“If Turkey decides to send a contingent, we would welcome that.”
Regev said that other countries had also been contacted.
Israel has said only countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel should participate in the force, arguing that it would otherwise be hard to share intelligence with the UN force.
Jordan and Egypt are among the Muslim countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel.
The deployment of the force is stipulated by a UN ceasefire deal that ended a month of Israel-Hezbollah fighting.
Europe decided on Friday to send up to up to 6,900 troops to Lebanon.