The third segment of the 9th Sri Lanka Army contingent for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) left Sri Lanka to assume duties as troops of the Force Protection in Lebanon Wednesday (25) evening. The group consists of 80 Army personnel (four officers and seventy six other rankers).
The Sri Lanka’s Force Protection Unit (9 SLFPU), is comprised of 10 officers and 140 other rankers in total and has been made up with the troops from Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (76), Mechanized Infantry Regiment (24), Commando Regiment (14), Special Forces (8), Sri Lanka Engineers (4), Sri Lanka Signal Corps (4), Sri Lanka Army Service Corps (4), Sri Lanka Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (4), Corps of Engineer Services (2), Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (2), Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps (2), Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police (2), Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps (2), 11 Sri Lanka Signal Corps (1) and 1 Logistic Officer.
The formal Passing out Parade of the 150 - strong SLFPU at the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (VIR) Headquarters at Boyagane, Kurunegala on Thursday (5) saw the contingent accord a salute to their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel G.P Kodithuwakku in the presence of a gathering of senior officers and next of kin of the troops before their departure for Lebanon in separate segments. Major General Jagath Dias, Colonel of the Regiment VIR attended as the Guest and reviewed the parade.
The first advance party of the SLFPU contingent (four officers and eleven other rankers) left earlier for Lebanon on Friday (6) and the second batch left the country on Tuesday (17) to take up duties.
The SLFPU in Lebanon, responsible for security and VIP duties at the UNIFIL Force Headquarters - Naqoura, controls all the access routes to the UNIFIL Headquarters and is under command to the Force Headquarters Support Unit (FHQSU) which is directly under the Force Commander.
Since the year 2010, Sri Lanka Army has dispatched 9 such contingents until this February to serve in Lebanon at the request of the UNIFIL.
Meanwhile, the 150 member 8th contingent in the UNIFIL returned to Sri Lanka on Wednesday (25) morning after completing their tenure.
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