UNIFIL Italian peacekeepers yesterday donated four state-of-the-art lung ventilators to the intensive care and pulmonology units of public hospitals of Tyre, south Lebanon, which are on the frontlines in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UNIFIL support, which will benefit some 400,000 people living in the Tyre Union of Municipalities, follows a request from the Director of Tyre Public Hospitals, Mohamad Hamade.

Of late, the number of COVID-19 infections is on the rise in the whole of Lebanon as well as in the Tyre district.

Following the handover ceremony yesterday, the Mayor of Tyre, Hassan Dbouk, thanked UNIFIL Italian peacekeepers and the Mission’s Sector West Commander Brigadier General Andrea Di Stasio for the “important donation,” which is the latest in the ongoing UNIFIL support to the host population in their fight against the pandemic.

The Qaemaqam of Tyre, Mohammed Ali Jaffel said, “These machines will allow for modernization and expansion of the intensive care shock rooms in our hospitals, which during COVID emergency are the core of reanimation activities. We will finally count on a service able to answer to the emergency needs coming from our local community.”

For this part, Brig. Gen. Di Stasio said UNIFIL Sector West will continue to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces and support the host population “with every possible effort.”

“I want Sector West to be close to the Lebanese population in this difficult moment because of political, economic and health crisis,” he said.

Between their core peacekeeping duties, UNIFIL peacekeepers regularly carry out various activities like this one in support of the host communities, which – together with their operational activities – have helped keep calm in the Mission’s area of operation for more than 14 years.