Malbatt 850-4 Mission Ends, New Commander Takes Over

From Muhammad Afiq Mohd Asri BEIRUT, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- The year-long peacekeeping mission of the Armed Forces' Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) 850-4 under the the United Nations (UN) Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), has finally come to an end. Malbatt 850-4 commander Col Reizal Arif Ismail (left) Wednesday handed over the leadership to the new peacekeeping mission commander of Malbatt 850-5, Col Khairul Anuar Abd Aziz (right) here. Deputy Defence Minister Mohd Johari Baharum, who witnessed the hand over of duties at the Marakah Camp here, expressed hope that the new commander would be able to carry out his duties responsibly. “What is important is that I hope the new commander will take a good care of our country's reputation in the international arena and work closely with tens of battalions from other countries under the UN. “In addition, our Malbatt personnel had always been praised by the Lebanese community as they were highly satisfied with the well-performed tasks involving our members in Lebanon,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, Khairul Anuar said he would continue on the cooperation path set by the Malbatt 850-4 peacekeepers and promised to further boost Malaysia’s image to the world. “This is my second mission in Lebanon. I had served here in 2008 and many of these facilities have been upgraded to provide more comfort to the Malbatt members. “I also have high confidence in my Malbatt 850-5 team and I hope that they will give an excellent service to the Lebanese,” he said. The fresh group of 205 Malaysian peacekeepers arrived at the camp in Tyre, about 80km from here and 30km from the Israeli border, at 12.30 am (local time) on Wednesday. Malbatt 850-5 comprises a total of 850 officers and men. Also in the team are 30 personnel from the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. They are being deployed to Lebanon in stages with the last group to arrive on Sunday. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA