U.N. Chief Criticizes Israel, Hezbollah

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, center, flanked by Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, right, and Hezbollah legislator Ali Ammar, left, walks past a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, during a tour of the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. Annan on Monday demanded that Hezbollah release two captured Israeli soldiers to the international Red Cross, pressing both sides to fulfill their commitments to solidify the two-week-old cease-fire in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil) (Mahmoud Tawil - AP)

"It is well known that Germany has possibilities ... to help free these captured and kidnapped Israeli soldiers," Erler said.

Annan said in Beirut that as a first step, the captured soldiers could be transferred with Red Cross involvement to the government of Lebanon or a third party, and offered U.N. assistance if required.

Meanwhile, Italy's Cabinet approved sending 2,500 soldiers to the peacekeeping mission, and the government approved a $38.4 million aid package for Lebanon.

"In the coming hours we will initiate the complex logistics for the deployment of the Italian forces in the region," Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said.

Earlier, the Italian Defense Ministry said a naval task force was already being assembled to move about 1,900 soldiers to Lebanon. They were to include marines and engineering specialists and be off the Lebanese coast by Friday.

Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a country with close ties to both Israel and Arab states, took a step closer toward joining the peacekeeping force. Turkey has not said how many troops it could send, but the presence of Muslim soldiers in the force is regarded as crucial to gaining its acceptance in Lebanon.

Turkey's Cabinet called Monday for sending troops to Lebanon and said parliament would be convened soon to vote on the measure.

But in Lebanon, the spiritual leader of the Armenian Diaspora, Catholicos Aram I, released a statement calling Turkish participation in a peacekeeping mission "morally unacceptable." Armenians want modern Turkey to recognize atrocities committed by its Ottoman predecessors. The Armenians estimate they lost 1.5 million people in massacres or forced marches in Word War I.