Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (NCP) gave her doorstep remarks ahead of the 75th anniversary summit of Nato in Washington DC, the US, on 10 July 2024. Valtonen on Monday assured that Finland is prepared to pull its peacekeepers from Lebanon in the event that hostilities escalate between Israel and Hezbollah. (Samuel Corum – AFP / Lehtikuva)
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FINLAND is prepared to evacuate its peacekeepers from Lebanon, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (NCP).
“We’re monitoring the situation tirelessly, and if the conditions become such that Finnish peacekeepers can’t operate they’ll be summoned home,” she commented on YLE A-studio on Monday.
Valtonen refrained from speculating on what kind of development could trigger the evacuation, but admitted that fears about several possible scenarios have lingered for months.
“The situation is inflammable. If there’s a strike against the civilian population, even an unintended strike, and it leads to a worse cycle of escalation, then everything is possible. Now we’re hoping that this won’t happen,” she said to the public broadcasting company. “Let’s hope that the peacekeepers can continue doing their job because the job they’re doing is absolutely vital for maintaining stability in the region.”
About 200 Finnish peacekeepers are posted in southern Lebanon as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), making the possible evacuation a massive operation.
Israel has threatened to retaliate against a missile strike that left 12 children and teenagers dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, fuelling concerns about a broader conflict in the Middle East. Both Israel and the US have blamed the Lebanon-based Hezbollah for the rocket strike, an accusation denied by the group.
According to the New York Times, Israel’s security cabinet yesterday authorised its leaders to decide on the nature and timing of the response.
“These children are our children, the children of all of us. Israel will not and cannot let this pass and carry on as usual. Our response is coming, and it will be severe,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged while visiting the scene of the strike on Monday.
Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire across the border since October, when Hezbollah launched strikes against Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Both sides, though, have seemed to calibrate their attacks in a way that suggests a desire to avoid a wider regional conflict.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
