ABOARD THE GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI (AP) - 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.
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 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. The carrier has loaded only four combat jets. The rest of its aircraft are transport helicopters.
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.
| The Italians are actually getting on with it. I'm impressed; getting the contingent and ships going from a standing start takes hard work. |
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