05.11.2013.
The members of SAF Infantry Company left for Lebanon
The 130 members of the Serbian Armed Forces left from the Niš Airport for UN UNIFIL multinational operation in Lebanon. Commanding officers and soldiers of the 31st Infantry Battalion of the Third Army Brigade were seen off by Commander of the Third Brigade, Brigadier General Želimir Glišović and Chief of the Centre for Peacekeeping Operations, Colonel Milivoje Pajović.The flight from the Niš Airport has marked the beginning of the third phase of complex operation which was planned and realized by the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Centre for Peacekeeping Operations in order that the members of infantry company should be deployed to the zone of operations in Lebanon.
“In the last several days we organized a sea transport of the main equipment – said Colonel Pajović –We got a report that the ship is near Cyprus and that early tomorrow it will sail into the Port of Beirut. Today the members of our infantry company will land at the Beirut Airport and we expect them to be in the zone of UNIFIL operations as soon as tomorrow and start with performing important and complex tasks. After three-hour flight, commanding officers and soldiers of the infantry company will be welcomed at the “Rafic Hariri“ International Airport in Beirut by our advance contingent and the members of the infantry platoon of the Fourth Army Brigade, who, after six months spent in multinational operation, successfully finished its mission. Immediately upon departing the aircraft they will be transported in convoy to the base “Mardjauna“ in the south of Lebanon and first thing tomorrow they will occupy their base at the position UN 9-66 in the vicinity of the Kafer Kela place.Colonel Mil
ivoje Pajović points out that, based on his experience from previous missions, SAF members in peacekeeping missions acquire a significant self-confidence and master a higher level of training, since they work in international environment and international headquarters and perform tasks in almost war like conditions.The members of infantry platoon of the Fourth Army Brigade today have been transported to the airport in Beirut and they will be returned to Niš this evening by that same plane.
By deploying Infantry Company of the Third Brigade to Lebanon and welcome to Infantry Platoon of the Fourth Brigade the activities in the Centre for Peacekeeping Operations are not exhausted. By the first half of November the team from the Special Army Brigade is going to leave for the base in Djibouti where they will spend a few days, and on 6th December the rangers will embark the UN ship “Caroline Scan“ of the world food programme, and proceed to protect the ship in the next eight months.
