IDF helping UN force dismantle s. Lebanon bombs

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The IDF is training foreign peacekeepers bound for the UN force in south Lebanon to neutralize the armaments the army left behind during its month long war against Hizbullah guerrillas this summer, an army officer said Wednesday. Lt. Col. Amit Tesler, an officer in charge of the IDF's joint training exercises with foreign armies, said IDF Engineering Corps sappers trained five Italian army commanders at a base near Tel Aviv for a week in September, responding to a request from the Italian government. The sappers briefed the Italians on the kinds of mines, artillery shells and cluster bombs the military used during the war, where they could expect to find them and how to dismantle them, Tesler said. He said a group of Spanish peacekeepers is expected in the next month for similar training. "We have an interest in making sure that no peacekeeper is hurt," Tesler said.