The city of Udine greeted officers, non-commissioned officers and graduates of the "Julia" returning from Lebanon. The national contingent, made up of about 1000 soldiers, led by General Paolo Fabbri, 43rd commander of the “Julia”, was employed, under the aegis of the UN, in the UNIFIL mission, in one of the most delicate operational theaters.
The Triveneta alpine brigade, used for the first time in the land of the cedars, contributed with his work to strengthen the excellent relations with the Lebanese authorities, both civil and religious, both military.
Numerous operational activities carried out in the Middle East, including with the Lebanese armed forces, especially the control and patrolling of the Blue Line, the demarcation line (not a real border) near the Israeli territory in compliance with the 1701 2006 resolutions of 2433 and 2018 of XNUMX.
The brigade was deployed for the first time in conformation DECI (Defense Cooperation Initiative): together with the Italian soldiers in the command cells and in the units of "Leonte XXIV", not only the colleagues of Slovenia and Hungary of the MLF operated (trinational brigade) permanent on a basis Julia), but also those of Austria and Croatia as evidence of the desire to build even more solid capacity to operate among different nations.
The men under the command of Brigadier General Fabbri have operated in the Sector West, one of the two sectors in which the UN area is divided, south of the Litani river. Together with their international members of Armenia, Austria, Brunei, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Ireland, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Slovenia, Tanzania and Hungary.
The ceremony in the main square of the Friulian capital also saw the change at the top of the Alpine brigade Julia, after almost two and a half years General Fabbri handed over the command of the unit to the parigrade Alberto Vezzoli. Maximum Italian military authority present the commander of the Alpine troops, the general of the army corps Claudio Berto who intervened bringing the salute on behalf of all the Alpini in arms.
In the intervention he wished the general Fabbri every best luck for the future of the military career, complimenting his excellent work. There are numerous civil authorities who wanted to witness the feelings of closeness and affection to the Alpini who had recently returned to their homeland and to the most important occasion, that of the replacement of the general commander: the Gold Medal for Military Valor, prof.ssa Paola Del Din , the prefect of Udine if dott. Angelo Ciuni, the mayor of Udine, Pietro Fontanini and, in private, the honorable Renzo Tondo of the Defense Commission.
Present at the ceremony the National Alpine Association with the National Labar and the president Sebastiano Favero. Many sections and groups did not miss their banners and pennants.
General Alberto Vezzoli, 44 ° commander of the brigade "Julia", originally from Bergamo, comes from the Defense General Staff.
