BEIRUT, 07 February 2022, (TON): The new Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Spanish General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, will take up his duties in mid-February.

This was reported to a media correspondent by a source at the UNIFIL headquarters in An-Naqoura. According to him, the appointment was signed by UN Secretary General António Guterres.

The source said “saenz will replace his Italian counterpart, General Stefano del Cola, who led the peacekeeping operation on the Lebanese-Israeli border for the past four years.”

He specified that UNIFIL included 13,048 soldiers and officers from 46 countries. The Spaniards (632 people) are deployed in the eastern sector of South Lebanon, at the base in Marjayoun.

Since 2005, Saenz has already served three times with the Blue Helmets in southern Lebanon and served as Chief of Staff of UNIFIL, according to the source. The Spanish general previously participated in the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, served at the headquarters of the ground NATO rapid reaction force in Valencia and the European forces in Florence.