Middle East News
Spanish king to visit Lebanon next week
Feb 5, 2010, 15:48 GMT
Beirut - Juan Carlos, the Spanish king, will visit Lebanon later this month to hold talks with officials and inspect his country's peacekeepers - who now head the UN command in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese foreign ministry source said Friday.
The king is due to arrive for his two-day visit on February 8 and will be accompanied by a large Spanish delegation.
The trip by King Juan Carlos comes after the UN Spanish battalion took command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), from the Italians last month.
UNIFIL currently has 13,000 troops from 29 countries. Italy has the largest contingent with 2,500 soldiers, while Spain contributes 1,100 soldiers.
In June 2007, a UN patrol belonging to the Spanish battalion was targeted by a car bomb blast, killing six Spanish peacekeepers.
The number of UN peacekeepers was increased in 2006, following 33- days of war between Israel and Hezbollah. The main task of the peacekeepers is to monitor a fragile ceasefire at the Lebanese-Israel border.
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