ANKARA
The authorities of Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that Turkey planned to withdraw some of its troops deployed in a United Nations (UN) mission in Lebanon
The ministry officials stressed that the decision of withdrawing the troops had been made on July, and the decision had been pronounced to UN the same month, noting, "Withdrawing the troops is not related with the abducted Turkish pilots (in Beirut)."
On Friday, a shuttle including the pilot, the assistant pilot, and the crew of the Turkish Airlines plane which flew to Beirut from Istanbul had been stopped by four gunmen on the way from airport to the hotel. Gunmen abducted the pilot Murat Akpinar and his assistant Murat Agca.
Authorities gave the information that they would withdraw the engineering and construction units; however, Turkish navy operating in Lebanon would continue on its mission.
The 265-strong engineering and construction unit had been deployed in October 2006 as per a UN resolution. The UN had decided earlier in July to deploy a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon after a conflict broke out between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
During its mandate, the unit undertook the construction of the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, along with many infrastructure projects. It also granted generators and computers to nearby schools and hospitals.
UNIFIL has been deployed in Lebanon since the end of the Israeli invasion in 1978.
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