Eduardo González The Spanish contingent in the UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) informed the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, that it is prepared to raise the alert level in anticipation of a response from the Shiite militia Hezbollah to Israel's attacks. Yesterday, Robles visited the Operations Command (MOPS) at its Retamares base in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), to learn about the current status of Spanish peacekeeping missions abroad, especially the Spanish contingent in Lebanon, with whom he spoke by videoconference, according to the Ministry in a press release. During the videoconference, the Chief of Staff of UNIFIL, Lieutenant Colonel Javier Romera, reported on the tense calm that exists in the area, with 27 incidents recorded just the previous day, and explained that, awaiting Hezbollah's reaction to the Israeli attacks, the mission is currently at alert level one, but prepared to move to level two or three, which would involve bunkering the contingent. “Spain is doing a very significant job, in a complicated and difficult situation, to prevent the conflict from escalating, and the contingent is taking all the necessary security measures,” said Robles, who praised the mediation efforts of Spanish Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro, head of UNIFIL. The minister also highlighted the “magnificent relationship of the Spanish military with the civilian population,” a large part of which has been forced to abandon their homes along the ‘blue line’ due to the increase in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah since the beginning of the war in Gaza. UNIFIL, in charge of monitoring the cessation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel and of accompanying and assisting the Lebanese Armed Forces in the south of the country and along the Blue Line that separates Lebanon from Israel, has around 10,000 people from 40 nations, deployed in two sectors, the East and the West, under Spanish and Italian command, respectively. Spain has 670 soldiers in Lebanon, most of them belonging to the ‘Aragón’ Brigade I, which, under the command of Brigadier General Guillermo García del Barrio, took over the Lebanese Multinational Brigade (BRILIB XLI) in the Eastern sector at the end of May. The Spanish-led Multinational Brigade East is made up of some 3,500 troops of nine different nationalities. The Spanish Armed Forces were deployed in Lebanon in September 2006. The bulk of the contingent in Operation Libre Hidalgo is based at the ‘Miguel de Cervantes’ base, near the town of Marjayoun, where the Eastern Sector Headquarters is located. There are also Spanish troops at the mission’s Headquarters in Naqura, where Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro, currently in command of the mission, is based. A total of 340 people make up the staff of the Operations Command, which is divided into a General Staff, a Joint Special Operations Command, a core of the Multinational Joint Headquarters and the Retamares Security and Services Headquarters. The Operations Command is the body responsible for operational planning, the conduct and monitoring of military operations, and the exercises that are determined, and advises the Chief of the Defence Staff.
