BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers today approved the return of a limited number of British troops to Iraq to help protect the country's southern oil ports — an area where Iraq is lagging in its ability to provide security.

Iraq's parliament approved the security agreement with Britain months after the military contingent was forced to pull out because a United Nations mandate allowing British troops to legally operate in the country was expiring.

Under the agreement in parliament today, about 100 British troops would return for about a year to provide protection to the oil sites and train Iraqi forces. Iraq's president and two vice presidents still must sign off on the agreement.

The deal limits British military operations in Iraq strictly to naval operations at the southern port of Umm Qasr, said Jabir Khalifa Jabir from the parliament's oil and gas committee.

Britain had about 40,000 troops in Iraq following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but withdrew almost all their forces earlier this year. A contingent of about 100 to 150 troops who were training Iraq's new navy remained, but those forces were moved to Kuwait when Iraq's parliament went on summer break without agreeing to allow the British to stay.