The Hungarian Military Personnel of UNIFIL Enlarged

Hungary, Slovenia and Italy took the initiative back in 1998, to form the Multinational Land Force – MLF, with an aim to conduct missions in peacekeeping, crisis management, humanitarian as well as in search and rescue operations. The MLF mandate covers first of all the difficult terrains and extreme climatic areas of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) and South-eastern Europe (SEE), not excluding the deployment outside Europe either.

The battle group was established on the Julia Brigade Base stationing in Udine, and it began its formal activity in 2002. MLF has been doing standby service as a battle group offered to the European Union, several times since its establishment, and earlier it had already been deployed in the NATO crisis management operations in the Balkans and in Afghanistan.

A decision about the enlargement of the engagement was made in 2017, after the appointment of the Udine based Julia Brigade for the rotation of the Italian led UNIFIL Sector West Command (SECWEST) in 2018. The brigade’s engagement in Lebanon provides a good opportunity for the international personnel in the MLF Staff to have a role in the Lebanese mission. Hungary contributed with six troops to the mission abroad, in the framework of which three troops from the MLF Staff – Lieutenant Colonel László Fábián, Major László Sáreczki and Warrant Officer Krisztián Rakozov – are performing service at the operations and logistics (transport) field in the UNIFIL SECWEST Staff, from mid-April this year.

The departure for the tour of duty of three troops and two dogs from the personnel of the Explosive Detection Dog (EDD) Operations Company of the HDF 1st “Honvéd" EOD and Warship Regiment will take place in the second phase of the rotation, in the first half of May.

UNIFIL Sector West Command is located in the South Lebanese area of operation (AO), near the settlement of Shama, about 10 kms northwest of the Naqoura Headquarters. With the present rotation, the troops of 3 new nations – Austria, Croatia and Hungary – joined the Command consisting in the majority of Italian soldiers, so in addition to the Italians, the soldiers of 14 nations are already performing duty in Shama.