Spanish military to instruct personnel from UNIFIL Sector East and the Lebanese Army on COVID disinfection

• The Spanish contingent is leading the COVID-19 disinfection workshops for the units of the Multinational Brigade of Sector East of the United Nations mission in Lebanon and members of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

As part of the cooperation that UNIFIL maintains with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the units of the Multinational Brigade of Sector East, in which the Spanish contingent is part of, have carried out, together with members of the 7th Brigade of the Lebanese Army (LAF), a specific phase of instruction aimed at disinfection procedures against COVID19.

Captain Prieto, head of the NBQ Company of the Headquarters Battalion of the XVI Brigade "Canarias", in charge of instructing and directing the Brigade's personnel during the Balmis operation in the Canary Islands, was responsible for both the planning and execution of the training sessions. This activity, which arose as a necessity on the part of the Lebanese Armed Forces units, has meant a pooling of procedures and a unified adoption of the same, in order to confront this common enemy present throughout the world.

The conference, which took place from 18 to 20 January, consisted of a theoretical and a practical phase, ending with a personal and team evaluation of the procedures acquired.

The activity initially focused on individual and equipment disinfection, and then moved on to procedures for cleaning work areas and common areas of buildings, ending with both external and internal decontamination of vehicles. These are activities that the Spanish contingent units are very accustomed to carrying out given their experience during Operation Balmis on national territory.

The activities came to an end with a ceremony in which the Chief of the UNIFIL Brigade of the Eastern Sector, the Spanish General Ramón Armada Vázquez, presented a diploma of recognition of the practices carried out to all the personnel who participated in them.

The head of BRILIB XXXVI thanked all the personnel, both from UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces, for their participation and encouraged them to continue with this type of joint activities aimed at creating an atmosphere of trust between the parties and improving the stability of government institutions in the area.