Nato cool on Lebanon force
2006-07-24 22:52
Brussels - Nato reacted cautiously on Monday to US and Israeli calls for it to lead a peacekeeping force in Lebanon, while diplomats said the military alliance was already hugely stretched, notably in Afghanistan.
A Nato spokesperson made little official comment, but sources pointed out that the 26-nation alliance has active missions in the Balkans, Africa and Iraq as well as Afghanistan, which is facing a growing surge of violence.
"There are huge challenges involved for any kind of intervention force," said one Nato source in Brussels.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in theory has the command structure, planning capability and political coordination capability to run a multi-national operation, said the source.
But he added: "What (Nato) allies are willing to put at its disposal is a different question."
The comments came after the United States and Israel said on Sunday that they were ready to back an international force led by Nato in south Lebanon to ease tensions.
No US troops are likely to be in the force, which according to a US media report could be between 10 000 and 20 000-strong and led by a contingent from France or Turkey.
In Brussels, Nato's official spokesperson, James Appathurai, would not be drawn into elaborate comment.
"There has been no request made to Nato to play any role," he told AFP.
The Washington Post has reported that France and Turkey could provide a significant number of troops, but Nato sources said that drumming up enough fire power would be a "huge challenge".
Experts agreed that finding troops would be a major problem.
For the moment few concrete details have emerged about how the force might function or what its mandate would be. Foreign ministers including US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice are due to discuss the issue in Rome on Wednesday.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, himself a former Nato secretary general, declined to elaborate on plans for the force on Monday, but reiterated that several EU states would be willing to support it.
"We are trying to define among ourselves the concept of the force.
We are at the start of the discussion," he said after talks with Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri.