Head of U.N. force wants reinforcements

PARIS - The head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said Monday he wants reinforcements "as soon as possible" and warned that the situation in the Middle East remains fragile.

French Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, who heads the 2,000-soldier UNIFIL force, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the region remains vulnerable to "a provocation, or a stray act, that could undermine everything."

"They need to arrive as quickly as possible," Pellegrini said of the promised new international force for southern Lebanon. "But before that, there is something that can be done quickly — a deployment of the Lebanese army."

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