Rotation of Serbian Contingent in UNIFIL
Friday, 8.6.2018 | Multinational Operations
Members of the Serbian Armed Forces contingent who were deployed within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), over the past six months, arrived yesterday at Niš Constantine the Great Airport.
The new contingent of the Serbian Armed Forces, composed of commanding officers and soldiers of the infantry company, staff officers and members of the national support element, set off on the same plane.
The welcoming and seeing off ceremony was attended by Major General Želimir Glišović, Deputy Army Commander, Colonel Predrag Grbić, Commander of the 3rd Army Brigade, Colonel Slobodan Stopa, Commander of the 4th Army Brigade, representatives of the Peacekeeping Operations Centre, and relatives and friends of the members of the contingent.
– On behalf of the Army Commander Lieutenant-General Milosav Simović, I wish to congratulate all of you on the successfully completed mission and the accomplishment of all the set tasks. Like the previous contingents, you represented the Serbian Armed Forces and the state of Serbia in a dignified way and I am very happy to hear that our officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers are highly valued in Lebanon, especially by the population that lives there. I am convinced that representatives of the contingent who are leaving for Lebanon today will continue to professionally carry out all tasks from the assigned mission, to represent the Serbian Armed Forces with dignity and honour, General Glišović said, welcoming ones and seeing off the other members of the Serbian Armed Forces to the mission in Lebanon.
Major Mladen Gligorijević, an infantry company commander who just returned from Lebanon, confirmed that the unit he had commanded over the past six months successfully carried out all the set tasks in line with the mandate of the UNIFIL mission.
– The activities of the infantry company of the Serbian Armed Forces were carried out fully in accordance with with the plans and orders of the command of the Spanish Battalion, the Sector East Command, and the technical agreement with the Kingdom of Spain, Major Gligorijević pointed out, adding that the relationship with the local population and other nations within the mission was at a high level, professional and with mutual respect.
Today, 129 officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers from the composition of the infantry unit of the 4th Army Brigade, staff officers and national support elements flew off from the Niš Airport to Lebanon, while the force protection platoon is to set off on 27th June this year.
The infantry company, which will be commanded by Major Bojan Stojanović for the next six months, will carry out tasks as an independent unit within the Spanish contingent, while the force protection platoon, led by Captain Nenad Dinić, will be deployed within the Italian contingent.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution of 19 March 1978. Members of the Serbian Armed Forces have begun taking part in this mission on 21st December 2010 and currently, within one rotation, 177 members of the Serbian Armed Forces are engaged in the mission.
