Italian parliament speaker Fausto Bertinotti arrived in Beirut on Saturday for talks with Lebanese officials and to inspect his country's UN peacekeeping mission, DPA reported. "My visit to Lebanon is the first stop in a tour that will also take me to Egypt, Palestine and Israel," Lebanon's stat-run agency NNA said. "Lebanon is my first stop because of the deep friendship linking Lebanon and Italy and the presence of Italian troops on its soil" in the United nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Bertinotti held talks with his counterpart Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Seniora. The Italian official is due to inspect the Italian contingent in south Lebanon on Sunday. Italian General Claudio Graziano took command of the 12,000-strong UNIFIL force from French General Alain Pellegrini. Italy's contigent amount to 2,500 men and is the largest of the peacekeeping force.
