Israel asks France to send troops to southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM, June 30 (JTA) — Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai has asked France to lead a multinational force that would gradually replace Israeli troops serving in southern Lebanon. Mordechai raised the issue in a meeting with his French counterpart last week during the International Air Show in France, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported Monday. Mordechai was quoted as saying that if the French troops could contain the Hezbollah fighters, Israel would be eventually willing to pull back to the northern border. The French defense minister was open to the idea, and pledged to present it to the new French government soon, Ma’ariv said. According to the paper, Mordechai hoped France’s influence in Lebanon and Syria would contain hostilities. France was a key player in helping to end the cross-border fighting last year between Israel and Hezbollah. France is a co-chair, along with the United States, of the five-nation monitoring group of the cease-fire understandings. Defense ministry officials in Tel Aviv said this was not the first time the idea of French involvement in the area had been raised.