Spanish Ministry of Defence plans to replace 600 troops from the UN mission in Lebanon

THE Ministry of Defence plans to replace 600 Spanish troops from Lebanon.

The return is scheduled for June 15, moved back from mid-May which was the original date.

NATO agreed for the Spanish troops to be relieved after the completion of their six month mission.

The UN General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, decided that rotations of UN patrols should be pushed back until mid-June in order to prevent the troops from spreading COVID-19.

It wasn’t possible for them to be pushed back any further because of logistic issues, as that would create a backlog of planned rotations of troops.

The repatriation however will still be subject to maximum security measures in order to avoid infections.

The new set of troops that will replace the ones in Lebanon will have to pass a two week quarantine period and undergo two coronavirus tests to prove they’re not infected.

This comes after Spain took command of the NATO air base in the Baltics, with the objective of monitoring its airspace and protecting it from Russian intrusions.