By Sheng Wei and Yang Shuangquan
BEIRUT, June 13 (ChinaMil) -- Peacekeepers of the 17th Chinese multifunctional engineer peacekeeping detachment to Lebanon came to an approximately 2,000-square-meter minefield close to the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon on Monday to conduct their first demining operation.
“This is the first time for the peacekeepers of the detachment to carry out demining operation along the Blue Line, indicating that the new batch of Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon will comprehensively begin the Blue Line demining operations," said Shi Honghui, commanding officer of the detachment.
Peacekeepers of the detachment cleared over 20 square meters of the minefield by the end of that day, discovering and disposing an anti-infantry mine, and confirming three signal sources.
It is learnt that after its deployment to the mission area, the 17th Chinese multifunctional engineer peacekeeping detachment to Lebanon obtained UN mine clearing and explosive ordnance disposal certifications within just eight workdays, becoming one of the only two peacekeeping detachments in the mission area with two certifications at the same time.