Army Chief: Peacekeeping Troops in Lebanon Already Have SOP
The Chief of Staff of the Indonesian National Army, General Maruli Simanjuntak, stated that standard operating procedures have been established for the deployment of peacekeeping troops in Lebanon. These guidelines regulate the actions that TNI soldiers must take in specific conditions.
“There are actually SOPs in the assignment. In certain conditions, they have instructions to enter bunkers and so on,” he said when met at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Banten, on Saturday, 4 April 2026.
Maruli’s statement responds to various incidents of attacks from Israel that resulted in the deaths of three TNI soldiers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission. In several events from late March to early April, explosions in the area of United Nations facilities in Lebanon also caused eight TNI soldiers to be injured.
Maruli said that TNI Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence have arranged steps to evaluate the attack incidents. “Hopefully, it can become clearer what and how this incident occurred,” said the four-star general.
He also urged the soldiers assigned to the world peacekeeping mission not to worry amid the current conditions. According to him, the standard operating procedures that have been set serve as a guide for soldiers to act in the field.
“But whatever it is, there is certainly a risk in the midst of this incident. The important thing is to pray that everything can go well,” Maruli stated.
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia has repatriated three TNI soldiers who died due to the Israeli attack in Lebanon. The three fatalities are Major Infantry Anumerta Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, Kopda Anumerta Farizal Rhomadhon, and Serka Anumerta Muhammad Nur Ichwan.
The three bodies of the TNI soldiers were departed from Beirut, Lebanon, on 3 April 2026 and arrived in the homeland the following day. In the lying-in-state procession, President Prabowo Subianto and several cabinet ministers were present.
After being laid in state, Army Chief General Maruli Simanjuntak led the ceremony to release the three bodies of the soldiers. In his address, Maruli stated that the three soldiers would be buried with military honours in their respective regions.
Two aircraft from the TNI Air Force were prepared to transport the three bodies around 19:40 WIB. Farizal Rhomadhon and Muhammad Nur Ichwan were flown to Yogyakarta, while Zulmi Aditya Iskandar was taken to his residence in Bandung for a military burial.