U.N. chief visits peacekeepers in south Lebanon

NAQOURA, Lebanon — 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.

Annan and his entourage landed in Naqoura, a town on the Mediterranean coast about two miles north of the Israeli border, in two white U.N. helicopters. The town is the headquarters of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.

The U.N. chief was in Lebanon on the first leg of an 11-day Mideast tour that would take him to Israel, as well as to Syria and Iran — Hezbollah's main benefactors.

Annan was briefed by French Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, the UNIFIL commander, and other top officials, then reviewed an honor guard of U.N. troops in blue berets standing at attention on the green lawn inside the U.N.'s white-walled compound.

He laid a wreath at a monument for peacekeepers killed in Lebanon since UNIFIL deployed here in 1978. Muslim and Christian clergymen said prayers, and the U.N. chief stood in silence in front of a display of portraits of those killed, including four UNIFIL members killed in an Israeli airstrike on their base in Khiam on July 25.

The U.N. chief shook hands with members of the 2,000-member force, which is being expanded to 15,000 under the U.N. resolution that halted fighting between Israel and Hezbollah on Aug. 14. Flags of countries contributing troops to UNIFIL, including Annan's native Ghana, fluttered in the breeze as the band played their national anthems.

Annan reiterated his calls for Hezbollah to release two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture spurred the fighting, and for Israel to lift its air and sea blockade on Lebanon.

"We need to resolve the issue of the abducted soldiers very quickly," he said. "We need to deal with the lifting of the embargo — sea, land and air — which for the Lebanese is a humiliation and an infringement on their sovereignty."

"I think the time has come for the siege to be lifted. The Lebanese have shown they're serious about the implementation of (U.N. resolution) 1701 in all the deployments and efforts they have made," he added.

He later traveled to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders.

In Copenhagen, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said there was "no good news on the situation of the soldiers" after she met with Danish leaders. She was to return to Jerusalem later in the day to meet with Annan.