The UN Security Council has extended the deployment of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon until August 31, 2021. The mission has been operating in southern Lebanon since 1978. In 2006, UNIFIL was increased to up to 15,000 soldiers. Now the force is to be reduced to 13,000 soldiers.
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner welcomes the decision to extend the mission: “Since 2006, UN soldiers from the UNIFIL mission have been successfully ensuring stability in a security-politically tense area. I therefore consider the UN Security Council’s decision to be important and correct. Our soldiers are contributing to this success and will continue to work for peace and security in Lebanon in the future.” The Austrian Armed Forces have been participating in the UNIFIL mission of the United Nations in Lebanon since November 2011. The UNIFIL headquarters are located in Camp Naqoura in the southwest of the country. Austria supports the mission primarily with a logistics unit with more than one hundred vehicles (including off-road vehicles, semi-trailers, buses, recovery, fire-fighting and tanker vehicles) in fulfilling its mission. It also provides the fire department in the camp. There are currently 183 Austrian soldiers in the area of operations.
