The UN mission in Lebanon maintains its positions despite the Israeli attack, although some soldiers are in shelters

When Hamas rockets crossed the Gaza border in the early hours of Friday to Saturday and the terrorists' attack on the Israelis materialized, tension was activated in the southern part of Lebanon.

There, 3,500 soldiers carry out a United Nations peacekeeping mission, which tries to guarantee that there are no Israeli troops in Lebanese territory, with a presence even on the blue line, the border established by the UN to separate both countries in 2000.. Now, all those soldiers, commanded by the Spanish Division General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, work concerned to reestablish peace.

Because this Sunday they have detected “several rockets fired from southeastern Lebanon towards territory occupied by Israel in the general area of Kafr Chouba, and artillery fire from Israel towards Lebanon in response,” as they have made public on the Twitter account of The mission.

For this reason, the neutral forces of the United Nations are from the beginning “in contact with authorities on both sides of the blue line” with the objective of “containing the situation and avoiding a more serious escalation.”. Although the mission asks both parties for restraint and to contact them to activate the “de-escalation mechanisms so that there is no rapid deterioration in security conditions”, the situation seems critical.. It is not in vain that the mission's spokespersons recognize that, although they maintain their positions, some soldiers are already working from shelters “for their own safety.”

Baptized in Spanish as Operation Free Hidalgo, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of these security forces in the territory on August 31 for one more year.. They aim to guarantee the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon as well as achieve the deployment of Lebanese troops on the Blue Line.

Spain has commanded the mission since last February 5 and of the 3,500 men that make up the force, 650 are national soldiers. On September 29, the National Engineers unit participated in a control of the Blue Line to guarantee safety.