The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced today that at a commemoration ceremony at the airport in Beirut, tribute was paid to Serbian Sergeant Milovan Jovanović (36), a UNIFIL peacekeeper who passed away on Thursday after being seriously injured in a mortar shell attack near Marjayoun.
Jovanović is the seventh peacekeeper to have died while performing the mission in southern Lebanon, since the renewal of hostilities between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel in early March.
“Like all of us, Milovan left his homeland and his loved ones to serve a mission dedicated to stability, dialogue and peace. Your example reminds us of the importance of caring for one another and working as one team. Dear Milovan, today we send you off on your last journey home. Thank you for your service, for your commitment, for being with us for peace. We admire your sense of duty and sacrifice. Your duty is fulfilled, we will take it over from here,” said the head of UNIFIL, Major General Diodato Abagnara.
When he arrived to serve in UNIFIL in January this year, it was Jovanović’s first deployment abroad.
As announced, two other peacekeepers, who were injured in Thursday’s attack, are in a stable condition and are being treated at a UNIFIL medical facility in southern Lebanon.
The tribute ceremony in Beirut was also attended by the Ambassador of Serbia Milan Trojanović, the Ambassador of Spain Miguel de Lucas González, the representative of the Lebanese Ministry of National Defense and the Lebanese Armed Forces, Brigadier General Maroun Azzi, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon Imran Riza, who also represented the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, as well as other peacekeeper colleagues.
UNIFIL stated that deliberate attacks on peacekeepers constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and can be considered war crimes. It was emphasized that the attacks must be urgently investigated, and the perpetrators prosecuted and held accountable.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon represents a peacekeeping mission established by the UN Security Council in 1978 by resolutions 425 and 426.
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