Spain will send up to 800 troops to support the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, if the ceasefire there proves to be "effective" and "real," senior Spanish officials said yesterday.

"There has to be a real and effective ceasefire..., the rules set out in the United Nations resolution must be followed by all sides and there have to be guarantees ... on the nature of the occupying forces," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a press conference.

"Spain is a country committed to peace... and peace in the Middle East is an indispensable asset in international order," he added.

At a public ceremony in honor of 17 Spanish soldiers who died last year in an accident in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said a force of 700 to 800 troops had been dispatched to the Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) under a UN mandate to maintain neutrality and guarantee peace.

Under UN Resolution 1701 adopted on Friday, the UNIFIL will be increased from 2,000 to 15,000 troops to help maintain peace between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, after a month of fighting in Lebanon.

However, Alonso added that many details of the mission still remain to be defined.