Belarusian Peacekeepers are Sent to UN Mission in Lebanon

On 2 August 2020, three Belarusian military personnel will go to the Lebanon to participate in the activities to maintain international peace and security as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission.

Two of them will serve at the headquarters of West sector as staff specialists in the Italian contingent of the mission. The third military personnel will be sent as part of the scheduled replacement of a Belarusian doctor in the military hospital of the mission.

It should be noted that the deployment of Belarusian military personnel to the Italian contingent of the mission is being carried out for the first time and became possible due to the signing in October 2019 of the Technical Agreement between the Belarusian Defence Ministry and the Italian Defence Ministry on cooperation within the framework of joint participation in the UNIFIL mission.

On 31 July 2020, the military personnel leaving for Lebanon were instructed under the supervision of Chief of the International Military Cooperation Department, Assistant to the Defence Minister for Foreign Military Policy Maj. Gen. Oleg Voinov.

Such activities are conducted prior to leaving for the mission to verify the readiness of the troops, as well as to highlight some of the characteristics they may encounter in a peacekeeping mission. And upon arrival from the mission – to study from the lessons learned and use them for further training of the troops.

It is symbolic that two of the outgoing military personnel are representatives of the Special Operations Forces and are sent to the mission on their professional holiday - Special Operations Forces Day.

Photos by Vladimir Blinov, Vayar.