Brigadier General Chok Bahadur Dhakal, the Deputy Force Commander (DFC) of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), inspects the guard of honor of the Chinese peacekeeping troops to UNIFIL on December 8. (Photo by Li Zhulin)
DAMASCUS, Dec. 11 -- Chinese peacekeeping troops to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) held a ceremony of force command handover on December 8, completing the 21th deployment rotation.
The ceremony was held at the Chinese peacekeeping troops' barrack in the south Lebanese village of Hinnieh. UNIFIL DFC Brigadier General Dhakal spoke highly in his speech of the Chinese peacekeeping troops' significant contributions to peace and stability in southern Lebanon.
Since the beginning of the deployment in August 2022, the 21st Chinese peacekeeping troops to UNIFIL have demined 15,325 square meters of risky areas, clearing 2,277 mines and five unexploded ordnance, and improvised explosive devices. They have also completed 87 engineering tasks and 32 temporary construction tasks and provided treatment to more than 3,700 patients. In July 2023, all 410 Chinese peacekeepers to Lebanon were awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor.
It was reported that the first batch of 205 members of the 22nd Chinese peacekeeping troops to UNIFIL had arrived in the mission area on December 5. The 410-member succeeding unit is composed of a multi-role engineering company, a construction engineering company and a level-1+ hospital detachment. The second batch of them will depart from China in mid-December.
