Germany's incoming coalition wants to phase out Lebanon mission

Berlin - Germany's incoming government plans to phase out German naval deployment off the coast of Lebanon, according to the new coalition agreement unveiled Saturday. No date for the implementation was set out in the document drafted by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP).

"Within the scope of the United Nations we will work towards a phased reduction of our German contribution to the Maritime Task Force of UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) with the aim of terminating it," the two parties said.

The lower house of the German parliament is due to vote this year on an extension of the Lebanon mandate, which expires on December 15.

When it was in opposition, the FDP voted against prolonging the mission last year, arguing that civilian aid to Lebanon was better than a military contribution.

The Martime Task Force Mission began operating in October 2006, after Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Its main task is to prevent the smuggling of arms to Lebanon's radical Hezbollah militia.

Parliament allows Germany to deploy up to 1,200 members of the armed forces for the mission. At present some 230 naval personnel are in Lebanese waters.

Some 28,000 vessels have been checked by the mission, but only a fraction of them were escorted to Lebanese ports to be searched for weapons.