Last update - 00:00 25/11/2006
Final contingent of Indonesian troops leaves to join UN Lebanon force
By The Associated Press
A third and final contingent of Indonesians left Jakarta on Saturday to join a United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, lifting the Asian nation's Middle East deployment to more than 830 troops.
The Indonesian forces will join a UN mission of around 6,000 personnel monitoring a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
On Saturday, 236 forces, including logistics and information officers, took off from Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta International Airport on board an ATA Airlines plane, said Major Muhammad Irawadi, a spokesman for the Indonesian contingent.
Speaking while boarding the L-1011 Tristar commercial aircraft, Irawadi said the last batch brought to 706 the number of forces to have left since Thursday.
An advance team of around 130 Indonesians - among them Lieutenant Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, the son of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - arrived in Lebanon early this month and is now with Spanish peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
The departure of the mission had been delayed repeatedly due to logistical problems.
As the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia was quick to offer troops, armored personnel carriers, trucks and ambulances to the UN force in the Middle East, which is expected to grow to 15,000 troops.