Ban Appoints Italy’s Maj. Gen. Paolo Sera as UNIFIL Commander

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon appointed Italian Maj. Gen. Paolo Sera as the commander of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon to succeed Spain’s Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta.

“Asarta will relinquish his post on 28 January,” spokesperson for the Secretary-General Martin Nesirky said on Monday.

The Secretary-General expressed his gratitude to Asarta for his “excellent service and leadership” after a three-year mandate to command UNIFIL.

UNIFIL was expanded in 2006 following a devastating war between Hizbullah and Israel. It now numbers some 12,000 troops from 35 countries and about 1,000 national and international civilian staff members.

Serra is currently Chief of Logistics and Land Transformation of the Italian Army, and held important command appointments up to the level of Commander of Italy’s “Julia” Alpine Brigade, as well as Commander of the Regional Command West of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) deployed in Afghanistan.

In 2009, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Rapid Deployable Corps-Italy. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Army Attaché at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C.

Asarta said during a dinner banquet in his honor at the Spanish Embassy in Lebanon over the weekend that reaching a cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel is difficult but not impossible.

Earlier in the month, during his visit to UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, Ban stressed the unique risk faced by the mission, saying that while peacekeeping was always dangerous, it was “especially deadly in Lebanon.”

The mission has lost 293 personnel since it began in 1978 in order to maintain stability at the border between Lebanon and Israel.