Italy will send its first 800 to 1,000 troops to Lebanon on Tuesday to join a UN peacekeeping force there, a defence ministry source said on Saturday.
Italy, which has committed up to 3,000 troops to the Lebanon mission, will send its first detachment by sea, in a convoy led by the aircraft carrier Garibaldi which will sail from the southern city of Brindisi and reach Lebanon on Friday.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi plans to hold a cabinet meeting on Monday to authorise the deployment of the troops. Italy will lead the force after the end of the French mandate at the end of February.
Prodi's office said in a statement that he and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed in talks on Saturday that "... the commitments in Lebanon must move ahead quickly, without forgetting the other political problems in the Middle East, starting with the Palestinian problem."
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