General

UN PEACEKEEPERS’ DETAINING INCIDENT SPARKS CONCERNS OVER OPERATIONAL FREEDOM


Deputy chief of UNIFIL’s Strategic Communications and Public Information Office, Kandice Ardiel, said on Friday that ‘a peacekeeping vehicle on a routine logistical movement to Beirut last night ended up on an unplanned route.’

‘The vehicle was stopped and peacekeepers were detained by local individuals. They were later released,’ she added.

‘We emphasize that, in addition to freedom of movement inside UNIFIL’s area of operations, peacekeepers have the freedom and authorization from the Lebanese Government to move throughout Lebanon for administrative and logistical reasons,’ she noted.

‘This freedom of movement is essential to the implementation of Resolution 1701,’ Ardiel stressed.

Source: National News Agency-Lebanon