BEIRUT, Lebanon - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi met his Lebanese counterpart on Wednesday for talks on the UN peacekeeping operation in south Lebanon to which Italy is the leading contributor nation.Prodi, who arrived in Lebanon late Tuesday, was expected to fly to southern Lebanon later Wednesday to inspect Italian troops serving with the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.
After his talks with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, Prodi was due to meet the speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, a political ally of the Hezbollah group.
Italy is contributing 2,500 troops to the UNÂ’s expanded peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, assembled under the UN Security Council resolution that ended the July-August conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. About 1,000 Italian troops already have been deployed in a coastal area from the Israeli border to the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the border.