TYRE, JUNE 25 – UNIFIL Sector West Command and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) yesterday opened a newly renovated medical facility with UNIFIL support within the main LAF barracks in Tyre, south Lebanon. The facility, refurbished with financial support from UNIFIL’s Italian Battalion (ITALBATT), will benefit around 20,000 people, mostly LAF officers, soldiers and their families.
At yesterday’s ceremony in the LAF’s South Litani Sector (SLS) Headquarters in Tyre, UNIFIL Sector West Commander Brigadier General Davide Scalabrin and LAF SLS Commander Brigadier General Maroun Al-Qobayati jointly inaugurated the facility, which underwent a two-month facelift.
The ambulatory care centre contains a dental clinic, general health clinics, a gynecology clinic, cardiovascular clinics and a pharmacy that provides free medication. UNIFIL’s Italian peacekeepers have also donated a number of medicines and painkillers to the pharmacy.
Brigadier General Al-Qobayati stated that the new collaboration between UNIFIL and LAF only deepens their relationship in south Lebanon. “The importance of this donation lies only not in its material value but also in its humanitarian value, as it includes the renovation of Tyre clinic that will benefit many civilian and military personal,” he said. “The cooperation between LAF and UNIFIL under Resolution 1701 constitutes the basis for peace in the south, which we see clearly in the level of close coordination between the two sides, which directly contributes to preserve stability in the area.”
Brigadier General Scalabrin reassured the LAF of continued UNIFIL support. “UNIFIL, Sector West and the Italian Contingent will always stand with the Lebanese Army, to help them sustain peace and provide stability to this area,” he said. “I am able to see the importance of peace and stability in the south and (its extension) to all of Lebanon and that the Lebanese Army is the main pillar of stability in Lebanon.”
UNIFIL-LAF cooperation is at the core of the peacekeeping mission’s mandate under Security Council Resolution 1701. (@OnuItalia)
