UNIFIL performs maneuvers off coast in South Lebanon

Source: Daily Star, 21-01-2008
NAQOURA: UN peacekeepers conducted joint maritime exercises Saturday off the coast of southern Lebanon in coordination with the Lebanese Navy, the peacekeeping force said in a statement. The three-day operation, in which French and Italian navy units are taking part, involves amphibious landing of military personnel and equipment and is taking place near the town of Naqoura close to the border with "Israel", the statement added.
Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Claudio Graziano said the aim of the exercise is to "improve cooperation and establish coordination mechanisms between the different naval and land forces involved."
The UN statement said two ships from the French and Italian navies, the "Siroco" and the "San Giorgio," were taking part in the maneuvers. Lebanese naval units provided logistical assistance and security for the exercises, it added.
UNIFIL was boosted - and a naval contingent added - under a UN Security Council cease-fire resolution which halted the July-August 2006 war launched by "Israel" against Lebanon.
The peacekeeping force now numbers about 13,000 troops, deployed to monitor the "Israel"-Lebanon border region.
UNIFIL troops are drawn from 30 countries.
On January 8, two Irish UN peacekeepers were slightly wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near the village of Rmaileh, 35kilometers south of Beirut and not far from Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, a hotbed for Islamist militant groups.
It was the third attack on UNIFIL since it was expanded in line with Resolution 1701 that brought the 2006 war to an end.
The bombing came less than two weeks after Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden slammed UNIFIL and lashed out at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a recording released on December 29 on the Internet. In addition, Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi, who led militants in a three-month battle against the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in mid-2007, threatened the LAF with further bloodshed in a tape released one day before the attack on the UNIFIL.
Three Spanish and three Colombian UN soldiers were killed when a bomb destroyed their armored troop carrier, on 24 June of last year.
On Tuesday, Graziano said "major challenges" await UNIFIL, and urged peacekeepers to "double efforts and never surrender."
"All bitter feelings should be put aside ... It is not the time to get discouraged, otherwise all our accomplishments will be threatened," Graziano said.
Originally, UNIFIL was created by the United Nations in 1978 to confirm the "Israeli" withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese government in restoring its effective authority in the area.
Following the summer 2006 conflict, the UN enhanced the force and decided that in addition to the original mandate, it would, among other things, monitor the cessation of hostilities; accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the South; and extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons.
Graziano said UNIFIL "witnessed some very difficult moments in the past 30 years ... but very good times too."
"A number of challenges still await us and it is not time for resting," he added.
Graziano had met with commander of the LAF General Michel Suleiman on Tuesday. The meeting focused on recent security developments in the South.