The Government has once again made clear this Wednesday its support for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and its determination to keep the Spanish contingent deployed there, rejecting pressure from Israel for its withdrawal and insisting that the decision is solely and exclusively up to the United Nations Security Council.
This is the message conveyed by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, during the video conference held with 16 European ministers with troops deployed in Lebanon and which was also reaffirmed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, in Cairo, where he met with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdellaty.
UNIFIL “has an essential and fundamental role in the de-escalation, in helping the civilian population and therefore we are going to be very firm in asking for the cessation of hostilities, for an immediate ceasefire, for the protection of the facilities” of the UN Mission and its staff, Robles defended in a video on social networks published by her Ministry after the meeting.
According to the minister, both she and her counterparts have been “very clear in saying that the UNIFIL mission (for its initials in English) is essential and fundamental to continue” after the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has asked for its withdrawal and denounced that the ‘blue helmets’ serve as “human shields” for the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah.
“It must be made very clear, and all the Ministers of Defence have said so, that only and exclusively the United Nations Security Council can make decisions in relation to this mission and that all the countries that form part of it, Spain at the head, are firmly supporting the mission,” he pointed out.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs made the same statement in a press conference in Cairo. “Of course the UNIFIL troops are not going to withdraw,” he stressed, recalling that their presence was decided by the UN Security Council.
“We clearly and directly ask Israel to stop the attacks on UNIFIL that are contrary to International Law and to stop the harassment of a peacekeeping and interposition force that only works for the benefit of the security of the entire Middle East,” Albares added.
