Far away from home, Chinese peacekeepers in Lebanon risk their lives for peace
Mohammad Rida, a member of the Lebanese Armed Forces tasked to work alongside CHINBATT agreed.
"The Chinese are extremely professional, they work hard and they do a good job."
The task is not easy, and requires meticulous attention to detail. According to maps provided by Israel, the peacekeepers are given rough locations on the whereabouts of mines. Yet weather elements, animals, and people are all capable of unintentionally moving their positions.
"This is why we don't work when it rains," Luo said. "It makes it dangerous when the soil gets wet and the mines can potentially slide around."
Waking up nearly at dawn, they drive to the site about an hour away from the CHINBATT base less than a kilometer away from Israel. Upon arrival, they begin working in sections using a range of tools including larger mine detectors, hand shovels and small brushes to clear away dirt, stones and shrubbery in the area.
After mines are discovered in each section, CHINBATT then informs higher supervisors in UNIFIL who communicate with both the Lebanese Armed Forces and Israeli Army to inform them of planned explosions.
Once approval is received, TNT explosives are wired to each area with found mines and carefully exploded to deactivate the device.
"The work we do is difficult. It requires such precise attention and it is dangerous, but we are honored to be granted such a task and represent China in doing so," Luo told Xinhua.
