German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hopes Europe will pledge more troops for the international force in Lebanon, according to an interview published Sunday, but she stuck to her insistence that Berlin will send no combat troops. Merkel conceded in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that there were «significant gaps» in offers so far of ground troops. «I hope that the European contribution will increase,» she was quoted as saying. «We would, for example, welcome it if a country such as Italy would participate substantially.» Merkel said she was working «closely» with her European colleagues, but made clear she did not plan to shift Germany's stance. «I have said clearly that the deployment of combat troops on the ground is ruled out for us,» she said. «That has historical reasons, too.»
