Indonesia repatriated the bodies of three peacekeepers who died in Lebanon on Saturday night. A military release ceremony, led by Army Chief of Staff General Maruli Simanjuntak, took place at Soekarno-Hatta Airport before the fallen soldiers were sent to their respective hometowns for burial.
The repatriated personnel were identified as Major (posthumous) Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, Chief Sergeant (posthumous) Muhammad Nur Ichwan, and Second Corporal (posthumous) Farizal Rhomadhon. Their coffins were loaded onto two separate aircraft following the ceremony.
A C-130J Super Hercules aircraft transported Chief Sergeant Ichwan and Second Corporal Rhomadhon to Yogyakarta Province. Their remains are scheduled to be handed over to their families in Magelang, Central Java, and Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, respectively. Major Iskandar’s coffin was flown on a CN-295 aircraft to Bandung, continuing onward to his hometown of Cimahi, West Java.
Earlier in the day, President Prabowo Subianto and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paid their final respects as the soldiers lay in state at the airport’s VIP building. President Prabowo extended condolences directly to the families present, including parents, spouses, and children of the deceased.
Former president Yudhoyono, who previously served in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s, wore a sky-blue beret associated with UN peacekeeping forces during the solemn occasion. Families of the peacekeepers had made preparations to receive the bodies, with a representative for Major Iskandar’s family confirming arrangements were underway in Cimahi.
The three peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon in late March during two distinct incidents. These fatal events were triggered by Israeli artillery fire impacting positions of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Indonesia has issued a strong condemnation of the incidents and has called for a comprehensive investigation by the United Nations into the circumstances of their deaths. The nation remains one of the largest global contributors to UN peacekeeping missions.
Source: Original
