Spain’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Jose María Ferrer De La Peña, visited the memorial of the six UNIFIL Spanish peacekeeper killed in 2007, marking the 11th anniversary of the tragic incident, in El Khiam in south-eastern Lebanon, last week.
In front of the commemorative monolith and in the presence of the Ambassador – together with senior UNIFIL officers from the Spain-led Sector East Command and representatives of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) – paid tribute to those killed in the bomb attack on 24 June 2007.
The ceremony was preceded by a religious ceremony in a church in the neighbouring Kleyaa, remembering all the Spanish soldiers who paid the ultimate price in the service of peace in south Lebanon.
A day after the attack in 2007, the LAF Commander of the time, General Michel Suleiman, had posthumously awarded the fallen UNIFIL peacekeepers with the Lebanese Army’s “War Medal,” “Military Valour Medal” and “Medal for Battle Wounds.”
A total of 13 Spanish peacekeepers with UNIFIL have died in the service of peace in south Lebanon since 2006.
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Related articles:
- Wreath-laying ceremony in memory of Spanish peacekeepers killed in 2007
- UNIFIL Press release (25 June 2007): Commemoration Ceremony Held for Six Fallen Peacekeepers