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Indonesia has no plans to withdraw peacekeepers from Lebanon, says Prabowo
As the conflict in Gaza continues to escalate, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said Indonesia had no plans to withdraw its troops in Lebanon.
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Indonesian Navy personnel from the Garuda Contingent (Konga) XXVIII, serving as the Maritime Task Force (MTF) under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and Indonesians living in Lebanon take part in an evacuation drill during an alertness contingency exercise at the Beirut Port in Beirut on Nov. 1. (Courtesy of the Indonesian Navy/-)
I
ndonesia has no plans to withdraw its troops from Lebanon despite escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has confirmed.
“There is no plan to withdraw our peacekeeping troops from Lebanon until now,” Prabowo said on Thursday after the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).
Conflict in Gaza has been ongoing for over a month. The latest phase of the conflict began when Israel started bombing the territory on Oct. 9, 2023, in response to a surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Based on a press release from the Indonesian Military (TNI) Information Center, the situation in Lebanon escalated after militia group Hezbollah joined the fracas as a reaction to Israel’s indiscriminate aerial bombings of Gaza, which forced Palestinians living in the Strip to flee south.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in Naqoura and Indonesia’s Soedirman Camp inside the UNIFIL headquarters are also affected by the heightened tensions.
Prabowo said if the situation continued to worsen, Indonesia would likely evacuate its troops via the sea to Cyprus if the Rafic Hariri Airport ceased to operate and land travel became unsafe.
Addressing the ADMM attendees, Prabowo also expressed concern over the situation in Gaza. He said Indonesia and other countries continued coordinating with the UN Security Council.
