A minutes silence was held on Thursday 19 November at UNIFIL at the opening of the 72nd Lebanese Independence Day commemorated by National Staff Union (NSU).

Maroum Diab, Chairperson of the NSU addressed the large crowd, noting "The commemoration of our independence day this year comes at a difficult time Lebanon is facing. As we know, Lebanon is fighting terrorism, spread in the world, and especially after the heinous crime committed last week against our people in the southern suburbs of Beirut; a brutal crime that led to the fall of civilian martyrs."

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Luciano Portolano chimed with this statement when he said "Today we are commemorating Lebanon's independence in time of pain and sorrow. I want to express on behalf of UNIFIL employees, our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the people and government of Lebanon. To all the injured persons, I wish them speedy recovery."

To close the ceremony the Internal Security Forces Music Orchestra who rank first among all military orchestras in the Arab world, moved the crowd with their renditions of patriotic Lebanese songs.

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Article: Aoibheann O'Sullivan
Video Camera: Mohamad Hamze, Suzane Badereddine, Ghifar Charafeddine
Video Editor: Suzane Badereddine
Photo: Pascual Gorriz Marcos
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