He explained that UNIFIL’s MTF has been deployed at the request of the Government of
...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial...for "very specific tasks in support of the Lebanese authorities."
"The nature of such assistance is clearly defined by the Lebanese authorities, who retain the sovereign prerogative and related responsibility to secure their maritime borders," Tenenti added.
"Accordingly, as requested by the government, the role of UNIFIL’s MTF is to hail ships that are approaching Lebanon and refer any suspicious ships to the Lebanese authorities, who are the ones responsible for carrying out the inspection of those ships independently. UNIFIL cannot board and conduct physical inspection of any vessel in Lebanese territorial waters unless specifically requested by the Lebanese authorities," the UNIFIL front man pointed out.
He added: "UNIFIL’s MTF is also not responsible for authorizing entry into Lebanese ports. This again is the sovereign prerogative of the Lebanese authorities. As such, after a ship has been referred to the Lebanese authorities, UNIFIL has no involvement unless the Lebanese authorities were to request any further assistance within the scope of UNIFIL's mandate."
"With respect to the Beirut port explosion, due to the ongoing judicial investigation, it will not be appropriate for UNIFIL to comment on this particular case. However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
UNIFIL has been fully cooperating with the Lebanese judicial authorities and has provided them with all requested assistance within the scope of UNIFIL's mandate," Tenenti stressed.
"In this context, some accusations made in the media misrepresent the way in which UNIFIL operates," he added, calling upon all concerned to "refrain from baseless and misleading speculations on such a serious and tragic matter."