UNITED NATIONS — Amid new Lebanese assurances that an international force will have no obligation to confront Hezbollah or those who try to rearm the terrorist organization, France pledged 2,000 troops to the U.N.-led contingent in southern Lebanon.

Fresh from his August vacation, President Chirac secured broadcast time on French national television yesterday and announced his country’s new contribution to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

Paris had been widely criticized for pledging no more than 200 new troops despite earlier assurances that it would assume a leadership role.Yesterday, it reversed course and matched Italy, which has offered to send 2,000 troops to southern Lebanon. Italy and France are now expected to share leadership of the force.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel told her Italian counterpart, Massimo D’Alema, yesterday that Israel will not end its current military blockade of Lebanon until an effective weapons embargo against Hezbollah is in place, Ha’aretz reported.

Syria has said it will oppose patrols of foreign troops to prevent arms smuggling along its border with Lebanon. President Assad said earlier this week that he would consider any deployment of foreign troops along the border “an act of aggression.”

Prime Minister Siniora yesterday reiterated his unwillingness to confront Damascus. A diplomat familiar with the meeting between Mr. Siniora and U.N. representatives Vijay Nambiar and Terje Roed-Larsen earlier this week told The New York Sun that Mr. Siniora refrained from asking that foreign troops patrol the Syrian border .

“We want amiable relations with Syria and we are concerned about the border matter to prevent any infiltration into Lebanon,” Mr. Siniora told France’s TV5 yesterday. “We have deployed the Lebanese army and we have no intention of showing any animosity toward Syria.”

The French decision yesterday opened the door for a sizable contribution of European troops to the U.N.-led contingent following days of quibbling about the international force’s rules of engagement. Secretary-General Annan is planning to join European leaders in Brussels on Friday to discuss the force’s composition.

“Two extra battalions will go onto the ground to extend our numbers within UNIFIL,” Mr. Chirac said on French television. “Two thousand French soldiers are thus placed under blue helmets in Lebanon.”

“I welcome President Chirac’s decision,” President Bush said in a statement from Kennebunkport, Maine.

He lauded Italy’s contribution as well, and urged other countries to follow suit.”We are working with the United Nations and our partners to ensure the rapid deployment of this force to help Lebanon’s legitimate armed forces restore the sovereignty of its democratic government throughout the country and stop Hezbollah from acting as a state within a state,” Mr. Bush said.

But Mr. Siniora said the force will not disarm Hezbollah. “It’s clear that the Lebanese army will carry out this mission,” he told an Italian newspaper, La Repubblica.”The multinational force is not supposed to do that and should not bother itself with it. Hezbollah is a political party represented in the government and it agreed to the seven-point plan presented to the U.N. by the Lebanese government.”

While it does not spell out the need to disarm Hezbollah, Security Council resolution 1701 calls for a zone in southern Lebanon “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL.”

The Beirut government reportedly has reached a tacit agreement with Hezbollah that the organization can remain heavily armed as long as its weapons are kept out of sight.

Resolution 1701 also calls on Beirut to “secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel.”

Beirut should decide whether foreign troops are needed to help enforce the embargo, the resolution states. Mr. Siniora’s government, however, includes several pro-Syrian representatives. It also has lived in Damascus’s shadow for decades.

Ms. Livni, meanwhile, flew back to Israel last night after visiting Paris and Rome, the two capitals that have pledged the most troops to UNIFIL. “The extremists who want to inflame the region are watching us, and this will test the strength and determination of the international community,” she said in Rome.

The French and Italian troops are expected to arrive in the first wave of 3,500 troops to strengthen UNIFIL as early as next week, U.N. officials said.

An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity played down the question of who will lead the force. He said the current UNIFIL commander, General Alain Pellegrini of France, will maintain his post at least until his contract expires in February.

Mr. Annan suggested establishing a Turtle Bay-based “military cell dedicated to UNIFIL,” the official added. An Italian will likely lead this rear command unit, he said.