The first Chinese peacekeeping troops to serve on a UN peacekeeping mission in the Middle East arrived in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday.

Eighty Chinese military engineers -- the advance troops of an engineer battalion -- arrived at the international airport in Beirut on a UN-chartered flight, and then headed for southern Lebanon to replace Ukrainian peacekeepers deployed there.

The Chinese battalion is composed of a landmine clearing company, an engineer company, a logistics company and a field hospital.

The main tasks of the Chinese engineering troops, part of a temporary UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, are landmine clearing, and construction and maintenance of roads, buildings, parking aprons and defence facilities in southern Lebanon.

They will also provide humanitarian assistance there.

The second batch of the Chinese peacekeeping troops is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon in early April.

UN peacekeepers were sent to the southern region of the country in 1978 under Resolutions 425 and 426 of the UN Security Council.

The UN force in Lebanon now has 1,991 military personnel from seven countries, including India, Ghana, France and Poland.

Source: Xinhua