Finns participating in the UN’s Unifil peacekeeping operation in Lebanon have less patrolling outside the base, and some days there is no going out at all.
Despite the escalation of the war between Israel and the extremist organization Hezbollah, the new Finnish peacekeepers will arrive in Lebanon as planned in about two months, says the commander of the Finnish crisis management force in Lebanon Jukka Honkanen for STT.
– The normal planned rotation is at the turn of November-December, and with these prospects we will go accordingly, we have no plans for any change. We have prepared for the fact that the main part of this group will change, says Honkanen.
About 200 Finnish peacekeepers serve as part of the French battalion in the UN’s Unifil peacekeeping operation in Lebanon. In the daily life of peacekeepers, the war can be seen as a reduction in patrols.
– We are no longer able to operate in the same way in that operational area, for example by patrolling, but we have to spend quite a lot of time now at this base. We will not be allowed out there if it is judged to be too risky, says Honkanen.
Finnish peacekeepers still carry out patrols, but their number has decreased sharply from before, Honkanen says.
– For each day, the patrols are always prepared the day before, and then the next morning we wait for permission, which comes from the Unifil headquarters. They are also in contact with the Israeli Defense Forces and through that find out if it is safe to go to an area. If there is a green light, then of course those patrols will be carried out.
Mood “surprisingly high”
The reserve battalion, which the Finns belong to, used to carry out an average of 4-5 patrols a day, but now maybe only one patrol or none at all a day, says Honkanen. Finns do half of the patrols.
Despite the situation, the peacekeepers do not carry heavier equipment on patrols that have been carried out. According to Honkanen, “the same self-defense equipment” is included as before.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah has been seen in the form of gunfire and airstrikes within hearing and sight distance of the Finns, although no strikes have hit the immediate area, the commander says. There have been no signs of an Israeli ground attack in the area controlled by the Finns, but scattered information has been carried from other battalions in the area controlled by Unifil.
The commander does not say that he has noticed the Finnish soldiers’ greater frustration with the situation, but he says that the mood is good.
– It is at a surprisingly high level, Honkanen says.