Armenia to Send Peacekeepers to Lebanon Next Year

Armenian peacekeepers in Afghanistan

YEREVAN (Armenpress)—The Republic of Armenia intends to send Armenian peacekeepers to Lebanon under the UN peacekeeping mission during the next year, a report to Armenpress by the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, states.

“At this moment negotiations are still in progress. The intention is to send Armenian troops to Lebanon in 2014,” said Artsrun Hovhannisyan.

The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia has been discussing the issue of including Armenian peacekeeping forces in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Currently, negotiations on including Armenian troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are being held with the Italian Defense Ministry and the UN on the structure of the detachment, location, logistics, objectives and other issues. Since 2012 one officer of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia has been included in the UN observation mission in Lebanon.

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia have been participating in international peacekeeping missions since 2004. Recently, they served under Greek command in Kosovo, but when Greece withdrew its delegation, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Armenian and American officials in 2012 for the re-launch of the Armenian peacekeeping mission. Currently, Armenian peacekeepers serve in Kosovo with the American detachment and in Afghanistan with the German division.