A member of Turkish engineering construction company, a unit of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), enters the company’s base yesterday along the Lebanon-Israel border.
AFP/Beirut
Turkey plans to pull out troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon Unifil, Turkish and UN sources said yesterday, while denying that the decision was linked to the kidnapping of two pilots.
“An approximately 250-person engineering construction force will not be actively involved in Unifil in the coming period,” a Turkish diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity.
The decision comes as two Turkish Airlines pilots are being held by kidnappers in Lebanon.
Both Turkish and UN sources said the troop withdrawal decision was made long before the kidnapping.
“On the 6th of August, we have been informed by the department of peacekeeping operations that the Turkish government decided to withdraw the Turkish engineering construction company,” Unifil spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
The Turkish source confirmed that the pullout decision was made in conjunction with Unifil’s own needs.
“The mandate of our force was extended in early July. At that time, it was also decided that there would be some changes in the configuration of our force, but the decision on this was entirely made in line with Unifil’s own needs and it has nothing to do with the latest incident,” the source said.
Turkey will however maintain its presence in Unifil with the maritime task force.
“Our units at the maritime task force whose numbers periodically vary between 100 and 300 will remain in charge,” according to the Turkish diplomatic source.
The UN spokesperson described the move as a regular process.
