Despite an injury sustained by one of its soldiers in an Israeli strike in Lebanon some days back, India has not taken any decision on withdrawing its peacekeeping troops from the region. This was communicated by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh on Wednesday.
The tenure of the United Nations peacekeeping force is coming to an end soon and any decision on Indian troops in Lebanon, numbering about 600, would be taken only after that, he told PTI.
Singh, who is attending the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting, hoped the violence in the Middle East would come to a halt and the crisis resolved through negotiations - "We hope sanity prevails."
Four UN observers from Austria, China, Canada and Finland were killed in the Israeli bombing in Lebanon on Tuesday but the Indian peacekeeping forces were safe.
Some days back, an Indian soldier was wounded in an Israeli operation in the village of Houla.
India has provided an infantry battalion to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which monitors the southern Lebanese areas.
