UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon said on Thursday that he was to appoint two generals from Italy and Austria to lead the UN's two separate peacekeeping forces in Lebanon and in Golan Heights.

The UN chief, in a letter to the Security Council, said he intended to name Major General Claudio Graziano of Italy as the Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Graziano would replace Major General Alain Pellegrini of France, whose term expires on Feb. 17.

Ban also planned to appoint Major General Wolfgang Jilke of Austria as the Force Commander of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF). Jilke would replace Major General Bala Nanda Sharma of India, whose term expires this month.

UNIFIL, which was created in 1978, has over 11,500 troops following a UN-authorized expansion in the wake of a month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer.

UNDOF, was established in 1974 to monitor a ceasefire following the agreed disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Source: Xinhua