The troops, who began landing on Saturday in the southern coastal city of
Tyre, were to unload heavy equipment at the port of Beirut while about 150 commandos were due to arrive at the capital's airport.
The last helicopter to bring men and supplies into the southern coastal city of Tyre landed after dark. A convoy of about 30 vehicles including soldiers, fuel tankers, amphibious vehicles and containers, then set out for a logistics base near Borj Qalauay, east of Tyre, to complete the initial deployment from five ships.
Lieutenant Andrea Catoni, a platoon leader at the base, told news agency AFP that almost 800 soldiers, the bulk of the first Italian contingent, had arrived at two logistics bases in the area, from where they would begin to carry out patrols.
Army trucks came and went from one base, where the soldiers were erecting tents and a mess hall.
Additional vehicles were unloaded by boat early on Sunday in the small port of Naqura further south, where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has its headquarters, spokesman Lieutenant Federico Mariani said.
Italian marines secured a tiny beach at the Rest House hotel in Tyre early Sunday, Chief Fabio Saracino of the San Marco Regiment told AFP.
The French commander of UNIFIL, Major General Alain Pellegrini, said the new UN force known as UNIFIL II would mark a fresh start for the peacekeeping mission first deployed in 1978.
"We have to forget the previous UNIFIL. The previous UNIFIL is dead" but the new one was beefed up and had stronger rules of engagement, he told reporters.
"We have more people, more equipment," and greater leeway to use force if necessary, the general said.
Italy aims to deploy 2,450 ground soldiers in two phases over four months, creating the largest contingent in the expanded UNIFIL force of up to 15,000 troops under a UN truce that took effect August 14.
Some 15,000 Lebanese troops began deploying in the south last month.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ended 34 days of intense fighting that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, overwhelmingly civilians, and at least 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Qatar pledges troops
Later, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani pledged up to 300 troops for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, making the gas-rich emirate the first Arab state to contribute.
The troop pledge was intended to "tell the world that there is an Arab presence, however small, and to say to Israel that we believe in this resolution and that we want to implement it," Sheikh Hamad said referring to the UN Security Council truce resolution that ended the fighting in Lebanon.
He was speaking at a joint news conference with UN chief Kofi Annan who has been on marathon Middle East tour to push for implementation of Resolution 1701 that went into force on August 14 after 34 days of devastating conflict between Israel and Shiite militants of Hezbollah.
Turkey, a NATO member and one of Israel's few Muslim friends in the region, was expected next week to approve sending troops to Lebanon, after initially asking for more details on the mission's mandate and rules of engagement.
Turkey also seeks to demonstrate support for the European Union, which is providing the core of the expanded UNIFIL and which Turkey hopes to join.
Lawmakers were to decide on a contribution that would provide "sufficient forces for a naval force to patrol the eastern Mediterranean, naval and air transport support to friendly and allied countries ... (and) training of the Lebanese army".
The number of potential troops or the length of their mission were not detailed.
Germany postponed a decision on how it will contribute to the UNIFIL because Beirut has not yet made a formal request to the United Nations for German help, a government spokesman said.
Malaysia said it wanted to send 1,000 peacekeeping troops to Lebanon but was awaiting a UN go-ahead because of Israeli objections.
Indonesia announced on Friday that it would contribute up to 1,000 soldiers after Israel lifted its opposition but a foreign ministry official told AFP in Jerusalem that the same did not apply to Malaysia.
"Indonesia has a moderate stance on everything relating to the Middle East peace process. We have no real objection concerning Indonesia," the official said.
"Our objections are about countries that still refuse to have relations with us and which openly support Hezbollah, such as Malaysia and Bangladesh."
Egypt, one of just two Arab countries officially at peace with Israel, said the crisis revealed "the flaws and the bias of the international system... the weakness of international security, and the United Nations' and the Security Council's inability to react speedily and efficiently."