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First UN peacekeepers Deployed Between Israel and Lebanon
The United Nations began Friday the deployment of its first peacekeeping units along the"line of withdrawal", also known as the "blue line," between Israel and Lebanon, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Friday.
"This morning, platoons from the Irish and Ghanaian battalions of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon took position at Yaroun and Manara respectively," Eckhard told the press.
During the day, platoons from the Fijian, Indian, Nepalese and Finnish battalions were expected to be deployed at four more points along the line, the spokesman said.
"Once this initial phase of the deployment is completed, we expect to have approximately 150 peacekeepers in position along the line. These positions will be reinforced with more soldiers and equipment as time goes on," he said.
The Lebanese security forces were expected to deploy in the south in the next few days, he added.
The UN peacekeeping forces should have been deployed in southern Lebanon Wednesday. The deployment was delayed due to the constant Israeli violations of the line of withdrawal which was set by the United Nations.
Israel announced the complete withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon on May 24, thus ending 22 years of its occupation of the area.
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