After a wave of news circulated about the departure of a large UNIFIL convoy from the south towards the Bekaa, an official clarification came out to put what happened in its logistical context, denying any exceptional indications of the movement of vehicles and elements that were circulated through websites and video clips.
Some websites had reported news accompanied by a video, talking about the departure of a UNIFIL convoy that included about 100 vehicles from the south towards the Bekaa, while other websites indicated that members of the international force had been monitored leaving through Rafik Hariri International Airport.
In order to verify the truth of this information, the “Factcheck Lebanon” team at the Ministry of Information contacted the official spokesman for “UNIFIL”, Danny Ghafri, who explained that the matter “is nothing more than a routine logistical operation that takes place every now and then.”
Ghafri confirmed that what is currently happening falls within periodic replacement procedures, according to which members of one unit leave and others take their place, which means that the movement of convoys and elements does not, according to his clarification, have any exceptional character outside the usual framework of the international force.
This clarification comes in light of increased field sensitivity in the south, where any UNIFIL movement or change in its deployment is widely followed, especially with continued tension on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The international force is deployed in the south in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701, and carries out its tasks in coordination with the Lebanese army, in an area that has witnessed a volatile security situation for months, making any news related to it vulnerable to deliberation and interpretation.
