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BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon on Friday after European warships began patrolling off the coast to prevent the entry of weapons for Hezbollah guerrillas, the head of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon said.
Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, the force's French commander, said he he was informed of the blockade's end in talks with Israeli officials and with the Italian navy commander who is leading the international task force that began operating just after noon Friday off Lebanon.
"The force is now operational and I understand that the (Israeli) naval blockade is lifted," Pellegrini said in a statement.
Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said she didn't have immediate confirmation that the final order had been given to Israeli forces to end the blockade off Lebanon's ports. She said earlier Friday that the blockade would be ended within hours.
The move, which came a day after Israel ended its restrictions on air travel into Lebanon, lifts a blockade that stifled Lebanon and cost it millions of dollars a day as it tried to rebuild from Israel's devastating 34-day battle with Hezbollah.
In a further boost to the U.N.-brokered cease-fire, Israel said Friday that it would withdraw the last of its troops from Lebanon within two weeks, as a combined force of 15,000 Lebanese soldiers and an equal number of U.N. peacekeepers moves into southern Lebanon
Israel sealed off Lebanon by air and sea when the war began on July 12 to keep Syria and Iran from resupplying Hezbollah with arms. Israel, yielding to intense international pressure, ended its air blockade of Lebanon on Thursday, but said it would maintain the naval blockade until international peacekeeping vessels arrived to monitor the seas.
The U.N. informed the Lebanese government that a joint French, Italian and Greek naval force began patrolling the Lebanese coastline at 12:30 p.m. Friday, a Lebanese government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
French defense officials said that a dozen vessels could take part, patrolling six miles (10 kilometers) off the coast, while Lebanese military vessels operate closer to shore.
U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who led the international campaign to lift the blockades, has also been pressing Israel to withdraw all its soldiers from Lebanon once 5,000 U.N. peacekeepers deploy there by mid-September.
At a meeting Thursday, Israeli security officials said the target was to have the remaining thousands of troops out by the Jewish New Year, which begins the evening of September 22, security officials said.
Israel has been gradually pulling out its soldiers -- whose number peaked at 30,000 at the war's end -- as international replacements arrive.
About 3,250 U.N. troops are now in place. On Thursday, the Spanish parliament voted to contribute 1,100 soldiers to the peacekeeping mission, and the first troops were to set off on Friday. Finland's president gave final approval for a 250-member Finnish contingent to join the U.N. force.
On Friday, hundreds of Lebanese troops moved into a corner of southwest Lebanon, the latest area from which Israeli forces withdrew. Dozens of camouflaged Lebanese military trucks with a few vintage jeeps and armored vehicles lined a busy coast road in Mansouri, about 25 kilometers north of the border with Israel.
U.N. peacekeepers greased the wheels of the deployment, checking with the Israelis to ensure they had pulled out each step of the road down before the Lebanese moved in to ensure there was no friction between them.
"We'd much rather avoid them (the Israelis)," one Lebanese officer said, as peacekeepers further down the road announced they had received clearance for the Lebanese troops to proceed.
The trucks were stacked with chairs, kitchen utensils and water supplies as the troops moved into sectors from which the Lebanese army has been absent for decades.
Hezbollah has held sway in the south for years, effectively running a state within a state. The Lebanese-U.N. deployment effectively ends the guerrilla's domination, setting up a buffer zone on the border with Israel where no Hezbollah weapons are to be allowed. The U.N. cease-fire terms call for Hezbollah to be disarmed, but the U.N. forces do not have a mandate to actively search for their weapons.
The international peacekeepers, however, will have a role helping the Lebanese prevent new weapons from coming into the country for Hezbollah. Besides the naval patrols, international advisers are being posted at ports, land border crossings and Beirut's airport to keep an eye out for smuggling.
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