Lebanon's communications minister told French radio Monday that the Lebanese army was preparing to cross the Litani River into the troubled south within two or three days «The Lebanese army is readying itself along the Litani to cross the river in 48 or 72 hours,» Marwan Hamade said on Europe-1 radio. It will then be flanked by «the first contingents of an international force,» he added, likely from France, Turkey, Spain and Italy. He did not give a timeframe. He spoke shortly after a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect across the region, halting a month of fighting. The U.N. Security Council approved a hard-fought resolution Friday calling for the cease-fire and deployment of 15,000 Lebanese troops and 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in a 30-kilometer (18-mile) zone between the Litani River and the contested Lebanese-Israeli border. Some 2,000 U.N. troops already monitor the region.
