The King was accompanied by senior Spanish officials including Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Defense Minister Carme Chacon Piqueras.

Juan Carlos was received by President Michel Suleiman at the airport and then at the presidential palace for an official dinner ceremony during which both leaders spoke.

Spain last week officially became the commander of the 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon after Italian General Claudio Graziano´s three-year tenure ended.

Lebanon´s president said his country appreciated and encouraged Spain´s support.

UNIFIL was set up in the late 1980s to monitor the border with Israel. The force was sizeably increased in 2006 following the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war to help main a truce along the border.

Spain has the second largest contingency of peacekeepers in the south after Italy.

In 2007, a bomb attack on a U.N. patrol in the south killed six members of the Spanish mission.