CAMBODIA – DEFENSE: Phnom Penh sends its peacekeepers to Lebanon

 

After more than two months of waiting linked to persistent tensions in the Middle East, a Cambodian peacekeeping contingent was finally able to reach Lebanon to join the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

 

General Sem Ratana and the Royal Khmer Armed Forces General Staff officially celebrated the departure of the 683rd Multipurpose Engineering Company during a ceremony held at Phnom Penh International Airport on Saturday May 9, 2026.

 

This Cambodian contingent specializes in civil engineering missions and support for United Nations peacekeeping operations. Deployed in southern Lebanon, the company’s mission will include participating in mine clearance and neutralization of unexploded ordnance operations along the Blue Line, the de facto border separating Lebanon and Israel.

 

Cambodian soldiers will also build and repair roads, bridges, shelters and defensive positions for UN forces.

 

The contingent will also provide technical support for the repair of border barriers and will carry out several humanitarian projects intended to improve infrastructure and the living conditions of local populations in their area of ​​deployment.

 

France played an important role in the preparation of this mission. Thanks to the action of the Defense Cooperation Mission (MCD), the French Directorate of Security and Defense Cooperation (DCSD) contributed to the training of some Cambodian soldiers, particularly in the areas of EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) mine clearance, logistics and ammunition management.

 

This training allowed the Cambodian military to reach the operational standards required for troops engaged under a United Nations mandate.

 

For more than fifteen years, the French DCSD has supported the training of officers and non-commissioned officers of the NPMEC (National Center for Peacekeeping Forces, Mine and ERW Clearance) in Cambodia in order to prepare their participation in international peacekeeping operations.

 

The three cooperating officers currently deployed within the Defense Cooperation Mission in Cambodia are thus continuing a long tradition of military cooperation between Paris and Phnom Penh, which is part of more than 80 years of relations between the French and Cambodian armed forces.

 

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