Russia to help Lebanon clear bombs left after 2006 conflict
Russia is ready to assist Lebanon in clearing unexploded bombs left on its territory after a military conflict with Israel in 2006, a senior emergencies ministry official said Tuesday.
During the 34-day military confrontation last summer, Israel reportedly pounded Lebanon with over 4 million cluster bombs and artillery shells, leaving at least 1 million munitions unexploded. Only 300,000 of those have been cleared during the past 10 months.
"At the request of the Lebanese government, Russia will help clear the territory of the country [Lebanon] from explosive mines," said Yuri Brazhnikov, director of the Emergency Situations Ministry`s international department, adding that the operation would be fully financed by Russia.
The official, who is heading a group of Russian experts on a week-long reconnaissance visit to Lebanon, said the first step was to establish contacts with the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers, and to determine the scope of future work.
Brazhnikov said that a group of emergencies ministry`s specialists, up to 40 people, could be later deployed in a designated region of Lebanon to clear it from unexploded bombs.
The operation will be part of Russia`s humanitarian aid to Lebanon, which Moscow has been providing since the end of hostilities in the region. Russia sent humanitarian supplies to the Middle East country in the summer of 2006 and helped Lebanon repair nine bridges destroyed in the conflict.
The official said Russian experts had broad experience in clearing unexploded bombs left after World War II, conflicts in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Croatia.
Meanwhile, experts from countries-signatories to the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) are gathering Tuesday in Geneva for a week-long talks on reducing civilian casualties from the use of cluster bombs.
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