Naqoura, Lebanon – The Brazilian Frigate "União" with 239 officers and sailors aboard has joined the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force, bringing to nine the number of vessels in the naval component of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which is assisting the Lebanese Navy monitor Lebanese territorial waters.

The Frigate will serve as the Flagship for Rear Admiral Luiz Henrique Caroli of Brazil, the Commander of the UNIFIL-MTF since February.

"Deploying 'União' in the MTF has a great political meaning for Brazil in the field of international relations, as it demonstrates the country's commitment to UNIFIL, to the maintenance of peace in Lebanon and to the region's stability,'' Rear Admiral Caroli pointed out.

The first Naval Force to be part of a UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL-MTF has been deployed at the request of the Lebanese Government to assist the Lebanese Navy in preventing the unauthorized entry of arms or related materiel by sea into Lebanon. MTF has been working jointly with the Lebanese Navy to that end.

Since the start of its operations on 15 October 2006, UNIFIL-MTF has hailed around 41,000 ships and referred nearly 1,500 suspicious vessels to the Lebanese authorities for further inspections.

UNIFIL-MTF continues to provide training and to conduct joint exercises with the Lebanese Navy for the purpose of enhancing Lebanese capabilities. The MTF also has taken on added tasks, playing a major role in search and rescue operations following shipwrecks and a crash of a passenger plane in the sea off the coast of Lebanon.

A number of countries have contributed to the MTF. In addition to the Brazilian ship, UNIFIL-MTF currently comprises naval units from Bangladesh (2 vessels), Germany (3 vessels), Greece (1 vessel), Indonesia (1 vessel) and Turkey (1 vessel). With the deployment of the Brazilian frigate, the total number of naval personnel in UNIFIL rose to just over 1,000.