Reply #9: What have we done for Lebanon? The French are surely in the lead. [View All]

[partylessinOhio]

September 10, 2006
200 French Engineers Arrive as Beirut Port Starts Receiving Ships
By REUTERS

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 9 (Reuters) - More than 200 French military engineers arrived in Beirut’s port on Saturday, the advance group of a battalion that is to bolster a United Nations force set up to keep the peace between Israel and Hezbollah.

Their arrival brought the total United Nations force to around 3,350, said Alexander Ivanko, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Between 200 and 300 French logistics specialists and engineers disembarked with six armored carriers and 100 trucks.

The United Nations force could reach 5,000 once the rest of the 700-member French battalion arrives next week and an expected Spanish contingent of around 900 troops reaches Lebanon, Mr. Ivanko added. ...The French contingent arrived a day after Israel’s two-month naval embargo, and two days after the air embargo.

The director of Beirut’s port, Hassan Kraytem, said four ships had arrived since the blockade was lifted: two container ships and others with shipments of wheat and cars. "Today the situation was very good, work is back to normal," Mr. Kraytem said in an interview. "Tomorrow we’re expecting three container vessels plus another wheat ship plus another one with livestock." ...

Lebanese officials have estimated that the five weeks of Israeli airstrikes caused $3.6 billion in damage to infrastructure. Beirut has won pledges of billions of dollars in aid, mainly from oil-rich Arab states. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met Saturday the finance ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to discuss spending the aid and to prepare for an Arab aid conference.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/world/middleeast/10lebanon.html?ex=1158552000&en=bc9cd7ed6f99112e&ei=5053&partner=NYTHEADLINES_INTL