Lebanon, a new project of the Italian Blue Helmets aimed at supporting the local Armed Forces

(To UNIFIL)
15/01/21

Guaranteeing an integrated and even faster intervention capacity to deal with emergency situations is what the operations room of the 5th Brigade of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) command, located in Tire, in the southern region of the country, will be able to ensure.

All this thanks to an important supply of modern IT equipment and digital video surveillance systems equipped with high resolution IP cameras, donated by Blue Helmets of the Italian contingent of Unifil.

It will thus be possible to effectively deploy men and means in all 108 municipalities present in the area of ​​responsibility of the Western sector under the Italian leadership of Unifil, the United Nations Interposition Force deployed in South Lebanon.

A specific application software will allow the operations room staff to receive and process images from the territory, entrusting the various interventions to the operating units through real-time notifications.

Furthermore, it will be possible to share information with the police forces, the Lebanese civil protection and the Unifil command of Sector West, essential not only for the management of emergencies (floods, fires and landslides), events or potentially critical situations, but also for the monitoring of the epidemic of Covid-19 cases, acting as a support to the operational decisions of the LAF for the solution of problems connected with the safety of the population.

"Thanks to the new operations room, the command of the unit will be able to optimize the resources available and coordinate in real time strategies and targeted intervention synergies throughout the territory", commented General Andrea Di Stasio, commander of the Italian contingent in Lebanon, recalling that "one of Unifil's primary tasks, assigned in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, consists in supporting the LAF and is concretely implemented in this project, entirely funded by the Italian Ministry of Defense".

Because of lockdown total of twelve days decreed by the Lebanese government, the ceremony for the delivery of the computer equipment was carried out by means of a video link from the base of Shama, which, in addition to General Di Stasio, was attended by the commander of the 5th Brigade of the LAF, General Edgard Lawandos .