Italian Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said yesterday that Italian troops deployed in Lebanon as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force will be involved in a "military mission" and may have to use force.

The Italian contingent will help support a UN-brokered ceasefire between the Israeli government and Hezbollah following a five-week conflict sparked by the militant group's kidnap of two Israeli soldiers, the local media reports said.

The ceasefire came into effect on Monday morning.

Parisi said there was a risk that soldiers may have to use force considering they would be "treading on hot coals."

"But this is a risk we're working with and preparing for because we are interested in maintaining peace while at the same time concerned about safeguarding the lives of our soldiers," Parisi said.

He stressed that UN Resolution 1701 "calls for an active response" from the peacekeepers, expressing the hope that they will not need to use force to carry out their duties.

Italy has offered to assume the role of second-in-command of the mission, which will be guided by France.

The ceasefire resolution adopted last Friday calls for the expansion of a UN peacekeeping force that has been in Lebanon since 1978. Plans for a 15,000-man multi-national force are currently being worked out.

The UN peacekeepers will enter southern Lebanon under the resolution, which requires Hezbollah and Israel to end their military operations and obliges Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon as soon as the international force arrives.