Turkish Peacekeeping Contingent Arrives in Lebanon

Turkish officials announced on Friday that a Turkish contingent consisting of both soldiers and civilians reached Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday morning, at 9 a.m. local time, in order to join military peacekeeping operations in southern Lebanon.

According to the official statement, the contingent, which consisted of two large military ships, TCG Iskenderun and TCG Serdar, having around 95 soldiers and civilian engineers on board, as well as 46 trucks, four armored personnel carriers, several bulldozers and other types of military and engineering equipment, which would be located in the southern harbor of Tyre, would be involved in infrastructure-related operations, such as the rebuilding of bridges and roads that had been severely damaged during the month-long war in Lebanon.

According to a spokesman for the Turkish government, more army personnel is expected to arrive on Friday, as well as next week, flying from Ankara, ultimately reaching the total number of 681, which will join the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The official added that the two Turkish military ships had been protected on their way to Lebanon by two corvettes, TCG Bafra and TCG Beykoz.

The first Turkish contingent, which was made up of naval forces represented by a frigate named Gaziantep having almost 300 people, the personnel from the Aksaz Naval Base in Marmaris, on board, left for Lebanon at the beginning of October. These forces began their patrolling missions all along Beirut's coast, in order to prevent weapons smuggling by Hezbollah, last Sunday.