Italian Task Force Sets Sail for Lebanon

An Indian officer braces himself from the wind, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 as a U.N helicopter carrying U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan lands at the U.N. Interim Force base in Khiam where four UNIFIL members were killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 25. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon on Tuesday, a day after Italy and Turkey moved to join the international force there. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo) (Karel Prinsloo - AP)

ABOARD THE GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI -- A five-ship Italian fleet set off for Lebanon on Tuesday carrying more than 800 soldiers bound for U.N. peacekeeping duties.

The task force, led by Italy's only aircraft carrier the Giuseppe Garibaldi, assembled some 20 miles off the southern port of Brindisi for a brief sendoff ceremony.

Premier Romano Prodi and Defense Minister Arturo Parisi arrived by helicopter to salute the troops.

"We will follow you with trepidation because it is a delicate mission of huge historic significance," Prodi told the soldiers. "But we will also follow you with pride and trust, knowing that although you carry arms, you're going to Lebanon exclusively to bring peace."

Marines and engineering corps specialists are included in the vanguard of a 2,500-strong contingent Italy is contributing to the expanded UNIFIL force. It is the largest national contingent so far committed to the force, which is to help the Lebanese army maintain a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

Three landing platform dock ships and a corvette _ a lightly armed warship used for coastal duty _ also departed Brindisi with more than 1,300 sailors aboard, while a small frigate already in Cyprus was to join the Italian mission, the Defense Ministry said.

Lt. Cmdr. Pietro Alighieri, a pilot of one of the Garibaldi's AV-8B Harrier fighter bombers and a veteran of Italian missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, noted that the ship had loaded only four combat jets. The rest of its aircraft were transport helicopters _ a sign, he said, that this mission is one of peace and not war.

"I was also recalled from leave," the 37-year-old Alighieri said. "When you are in the armed forces there are some requirements and people should be proud to be part of a U.N. mission."

The international force of up to 6,900 European soldiers is meant to assist the Lebanese army, which has begun moving 15,000 soldiers of its own into the south to assert the central government's authority in the area along the Israeli border.

The Italian troops were expected to reach the coast of Lebanon on Friday. Chief of Staff Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola said the contingent was likely to be deployed in and around Tyre, a southern port city.