400 Spanish soldiers arrive in Beirut to join UNIFIL

Some 400 Spanish soldiers arrived in Lebanon to join the UN-led peacekeeping mission monitoring a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah fighters, Lebanon's newspaper Daily Star reported on Friday.

The soldiers, arrived Thursday in Beirut board commercial flights, will replace 500 Spanish troops who deployed here in September.

The reports said the incoming troops would be based near the Christian town of Marjayoun.

The Spanish contingent in the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, was to increase to a total of about 1,100 in the coming weeks.

Some 500 marines arrived in Lebanon in mid-September in the first phase of a Spanish deployment. They are due to return to Spain by Nov. 9 on two military ships.

Israel troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah Shiite group started their 34-day conflict after the latter captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a July 12 cross-border raid.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that led to the ceasefire on Aug. 14 called for 15,000 troops to join a similar number of Lebanese army troops deploying in the south of the country.

Source: Xinhua