On 29 September 2022 the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre received an important donation of medical equipment from UNIFIL’s Italian contingent. The equipment included 5 hospital beds, 2 wheelchairs, 1 transit wheelchair, 4 axillary crutches, facial masks, disinfectant, and surgeon gloves.

The Italian contingent’s medical team also provided medical care at the Red Cross facility, receiving and treating Lebanese patients throughout the day. Women, children and the elderly were examined, treated and given medicine for free.

The director of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre, Mrs. Rim Sleiman, was very appreciative of both the donation and the medical care. She used the occasion to thank the Italian contingent and UNIFIL for their continuous support to the facility and the Lebanese community in general. 

She added that, these kinds of activities have strengthened the ties between the Italian contingent and the Lebanese community, greatly appreciating UNIFIL’s service to humanity as well as the continuous implementation of its mandate in South Lebanon.

UNIFIL’s Sector West and Italian Battalion commander Brig. Gen. Giuseppe Bertoncello commended director Sleiman and her staff for their cooperation and dedication to serve the society. He pledged his unflinching support to the Lebanese community, stating that it is an integral aspect of fulfilling UNIFIL’s mandate while striving to maintain much needed stability in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL is working in south Lebanon to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, at the request of the Lebanese government. Part of the mission’s mandate is to help and support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) operating in the area.

“UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro chaired a Tripartite meeting with senior officers of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at a UN position in Ras Al Naqoura today.

Since 2006, UNIFIL has had a sizable presence with its, on average, more than 11,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.