Turkey will send more than 200 navy officers and soldiers to Lebanon today, the first from a Muslim country to join the U.N. peacekeeping force monitoring a truce between Israel and Hizbollah.
The Turkish navy said on Thursday the troops would leave aboard a frigate from the naval base at Marmaris on the south Mediterranean coast.
A further 260 land forces soldiers will join the Turkish operation in Lebanon next week, military sources told Reuters.
The AK Party government, which has roots in political Islam, is expected to send some 1,000 troops in total.
It has defended the deployment as vital to Turkish national interests, saying it will boost Ankara's profile in a volatile region.
The opposition and some in the media have criticized the force, arguing that it will mainly serve Israeli and U.S. interests.
Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, has also contributed peacekeepers to Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Reuters
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
