House Commission I suggests TNI consider withdrawing personnel from Lebanon

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission I, Dave Laksono, believes that the TNI or the government needs to consider evaluating or withdrawing soldiers from Lebanon following the death of a TNI soldier due to an Israeli attack.

According to him, the government needs to assess the situation of the soldiers’ presence in Lebanon, whether it can bring peace or instead become a target of attacks. If the situation is unsafe, then the TNI soldiers serving as peacekeeping forces need to be withdrawn.

“Our function is to maintain peace. Clearly, there is no peace there; instead, there is fighting. So, if that’s the case, we cannot carry out our mission,” said Dave at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Monday.

He stated that Italy, which also sent its soldiers to the area, is now ready to withdraw its troops. Of course, he said, Indonesia also needs to express its stance to safeguard the safety of TNI soldiers.

“We leave that to the government, which knows exactly what the conditions are like. We are only seeing information on developments,” he said.

Previously, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that one TNI personnel member of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon was killed and three others injured due to an Israeli artillery attack on Sunday (29/3).

“There are casualties from TNI soldiers, namely one person deceased, one in serious condition with injuries, and two with minor injuries who are currently receiving medical treatment,” said the Head of the Defence Information Bureau (Karo Infohan) of the Secretariat General of the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier General TNI Rico Ricardo Sirait, when confirmed by ANTARA in Jakarta on Monday.

Rico explained that the incident occurred due to an escalation of conflict that has intensified in the Lebanon region.