"The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) handed over a cleared minefield to the Lebanese Army on Friday after completing demining operations near the Blue Line in the southern town of Bledaa. Footage shows UNIFIL’s specialised demining teams surveying the area, manually removing explosives, and displaying unexploded ordnance recovered from the site. Nehyun Sopira, minefield commander with the Cambodian Multi-Task Engineering Unit, said the operation was conducted under direct orders from UNIFIL’s Combat Engineering Department. “Today we received Minefield LP 993 for removal. It is located in Bledaa near the technical fence. I received orders from the Combat Engineering Department (J3) to manually clear the mines in a safe and humane manner. This field is now safe and free of mines,” he said. In a statement, UNIFIL said this marked the first minefield handed over to the Lebanese Army since the outbreak of hostilities last year. The mission added that demining operations began on August 12 and were completed earlier this month, with 393 mines discovered and destroyed on site in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces. Lebanon and Israel signed a ceasefire agreement on November 27, 2024. However, Israeli airstrikes have occasionally continued on Lebanese territory since the truce with Hezbollah came into effect."