Original source URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060824/ts_afp/mideastconflict_060824123904 Syria threatens to close border if UN force deployed by Jocelyne Zablit Thu Aug 24, 8:43 AM ET Syria has threatened to close its border with Lebanon if UN peacekeepers are deployed there, further complicating the struggle by world powers to agree on the makeup and role of a force to police a fragile ceasefire. The warning came as EU diplomats met in Brussels for a second day Thursday to prepare for a meeting Friday of foreign ministers, attended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, to try to hammer out who will come on board. A partial breakthrough seemed to emerge Thursday, when officials in Paris announced that France might send "hundreds more" troops to join the 400 it already has in Lebanon. Following talks Wednesday in Helsinki with Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said "they will close the frontier for all traffic (if) the UN troops will be deployed" along the border. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also warned that deploying foreign troops along the border as envisioned under the UN resolution that led to the August 14 ceasefire would be a "hostile" act against his country. Resolution 1701 calls on Lebanon "to secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms," and Lebanese troops have deployed along the Syrian border in the north and east of the country, military sources said. An enlarged UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) would enforce an embargo on arms shipments to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, whose capture of two soldiers on July 12 led to an Israeli onslaught and 34 days of heavy fighting. Washington and Israel accuse Syria of acting as a transit point for shipments of arms and other supplies from Iran to Hezbollah. Iran and Syria deny the claim. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora took issue with Assad Wednesday, saying Lebanon would act to preserve its sovereignty and independence. Relations between Beirut and Damascus are at their lowest point since the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon in April 2005 following the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. Asked whether the United States took Damascus's reservations about the troop deployment seriously, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino replied: "No". In Brussels, meanwhile, EU members struggled to shed light on who is to play what role in the enlarged UN force. Pressure is growing on EU states to overcome indecision on how many troops they are willing to provide and under what conditions. EU foreign policy chief Javier "Solana has spoken from the start about 4,000 European soldiers. That seems a good target, that will represent a very important presence in the international force," spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said. However, that would be far fewer than the force of 15,000 troops envisaged in the resolution. In addition to being ready to lead the force, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has offered some 3,000 troops, although he insisted a new Security Council resolution was needed to clearly define the peacekeepers' role. France has come under criticism for sending just 200 soldiers to join 200 already incorporated into UNIFIL under its previous mandate. But an official in Paris said France may announce Thursday that its total contribution to UNIFIL "could be in the order of 1,500 to 2,000 men." Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said President Jacques Chirac has called a meeting with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and other senior ministers to discuss Lebanon. Chirac has left the door open to sending more soldiers, but only under UN guarantees that the force's mandate be sufficiently robust and autonomous to avoid a repeat of UN peacekeeping fiascos, such as during the Bosnia war. And Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Thursday Warsaw may send several hundred more soldiers to join the 213 already there. In contrast, Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was quoted as saying New Delhi was considering pullings its 775 soldiers out of UNIFIL, but not before UN reinforcements arrive. With much of the concern focused on what role peacekeepers might have in dealing with Hezbollah, one of its MPs was quoted as saying Hezbollah would not breach the ceasefire but could respond to violations by Israel. "The resistance (Hezbollah) is committed to the cessation of hostilities until the complete ceasefire is achieved," Mohamed Raad said in an interview with Al-Balad newspaper. "The resistance and the army may decide to confront these violations anytime the government sees the need to take a political decision to put an end to these violations." In Jerusalem, meanwhile, the Israeli army chief admitted for the first time to failures during the Lebanon war and called for the mistakes to be examined. "Parallel with our success, during combat we observed failures in certain areas, notably in the areas of logistics, operations and command," Dan Halutz said in a letter to the army. "We have to proceed to a meaningful examination of the successes and the errors. We have to extract professional lessons, as we are faced with more challenges ... This test concerns us all, from me down to the last soldier." Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. 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