Several European Union countries declared their readiness yesterday to contribute to a United Nations peace force for Lebanon, but EU officials said questions remained over how such a mission could be fulfilled.
Germany, Greece, Italy and EU candidate Turkey, signalled interest, while France has already expressed its willingness. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said substantial European involvement was a "real possibility".
"It is not an easy force to deploy but we have been working since Wednesday to try to construct a concept that would make it possible to deploy under the umbrella of the UN Security Council," Mr Solana told reporters in Brussels.
"I think several member states of the European Union will be ready to provide all necessary assistance," he told a joint news conference with Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri after the two discussed the conflict. He declined to say who would be responsible for disarming Hizbullah.
Mr Solana said Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert had told him as early as last Wednesday that Israel, traditionally wary of international forces on its border, would find such a force useful if it had a robust mandate.
Germany, which has in the past avoided any military presence in the Middle East because of its Nazi history, said sending troops was possible if there was a ceasefire, the Israeli soldiers were released and both sides agreed to it. "We could not refuse a peace mission of this nature if these conditions were met and if requests were directed to us," defence minister Franz Josef Jung told N24 television.
A Greek defence ministry official said it was very likely that Greece would participate in any EU or Nato force, while Turkey said it was willing as long as the mandate was clearly defined.