Beirut  - Visiting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that his country support and back Lebanon's sovereignty and stability.

"Italy deeply supports reconciliation and stability in Lebanon and places its trust in the upcoming legislative elections, which must be free and democratic," said Frattini after talks with Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salloukh.

Lebanon is scheduled to have Parliamentary elections in June.

On Italy's involvement in the United Nations Interim Force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), Frattini said the country will "continue to fulfill its role (as a peacekeeper) to establish stability in the Lebanese south."

The Italian minister said Italy is also working to ensure "a settlement over the town of Gajar can finally be reached in the spirit of cooperation within the framework of Resolution 1701."

Israel occupied Gajar in 1967 upon its capture of the Syrian Golan Heights. It withdrew from the village in 2000 when it pulled out of southern Lebanon, but re-occupied it in the July 2006 war.

The Israeli army continues to occupy the Lebanese side of the town north of the UN border demarcated in 2000, despite a 2006 Israeli cabinet decision to hand the territory over to UNIFIL.

UN resolution 1701 ended a 33-day war between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in July 2006. The UN resolution has called for 15,000 troops to be deployed in southern Lebanon to uphold the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, in which Italy has the largest contingent.

Regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, Frattini said that as "a friend of Israel" Italy desires a resumption of the peace process.

Frattini pointed to efforts by Italy, the European Union and the United States to encourage the new Israeli government to pursue the peace path. (dpa)