A wreath-laying ceremony was held last week in Khiam, in south-eastern Lebanon, in memory of the six Spanish UNIFIL peacekeepers killed in a bomb attack nine years ago.

UNIFIL’s Sector East Commander, Brigadier-General Pérez de Aguado; the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Ninth Brigade, General Joseph Aoun; and other UNIFIL officers and peacekeepers attended the ceremony held on Friday.

An Irish officer, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Ryan, who was the first person to attend to injured soldiers on that fateful day on 24 June 2007, was also present during the ceremony.

After the laying of wreaths, Spanish parachuters sang “La muerte no es el final” (English translation: “that’s not the end”), as dedication to the fallen soldiers.

A day after the bomb attack in 2007, the LAF Commander of the time, General Michel Suleiman, had posthumously awarded the fallen UNIFIL peacekeepers with the Lebanese Army’s “War Medal,” “Military Valour Medal” and “Medal for Battle Wounds.”

UNIFIL Press release (25 June 2007): Commemoration Ceremony Held for Six Fallen Peacekeepers