Italy will send its first 800 to 1,000 troops to Lebanon tomorrow to join a U.N. peacekeeping force there, a defense ministry source said on Saturday.

Italy, which has committed up to 3,000 troops to the Lebanon mission, will send its first detachment by sea, in a convoy led by the aircraft carrier Garibaldi which will sail from the southern city of Brindisi and reach Lebanon on Friday.

European Union nations have agreed to provide more than half the 15,000 peacekeeping troops being assembled to secure a truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi plans to hold a cabinet meeting on Monday to authorise the deployment of the troops. Italy will lead the force after the end of the French mandate at the end of February.

Prodi?s office said in a statement that he and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed in talks on Saturday that ?... the commitments in Lebanon must move ahead quickly, without forgetting the other political problems in the Middle East, starting with the Palestinian problem.?

Prodi?s government hopes a successful mission in Lebanon may pave the way for international peacekeepers to play a role in a broader Middle East peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.