Ireland to deploy troops to Lebanon

Wed Dec 15, 2010

The Irish Republic has given the green light for the deployment of the country's soldiers in South Lebanon under the command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

A total of 440 Irish peacekeeping troops are heading back to Lebanon after the government on Tuesday backed a recommendation by Defense Minister Tony Killen.

They are expected to serve with the UNIFIL forces from the second quarter of 2011, The Irish Independent newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Irish troops will conduct extensive mobile patrols in armed military vehicles and will monitor activities along the Lebanon-Israel border. Their area of operation will be a 140-square-kilometer block, which extends from Tibnin in the South to the UN-drawn Blue Line along the border with Israel.

“It is vitally important for Ireland to maintain a level of commitment to international peacekeeping operations and the obligations it has assumed through its membership of the UN,” Killeen said.

“Overseas operations contribute greatly also to the professional development of our defense forces. Savings being achieved through the drawdown of troops from other overseas missions will partially offset the cost of Ireland's participation in UNIFIL, most of which will be met by the UN.”

Irish troops previously served in Lebanon for nearly a quarter of a century until their withdrawal in 2001. In October 2006, 150 Irish soldiers served in Lebanon as peacekeepers following a month-long war between Israel and Lebanon in July of that year.

A total of 47 Irish troops have lost their lives while serving in South Lebanon.

The UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon and was given a wider role after the 2006 war Israel waged against Lebanon.

However, UNIFIL's inaction towards border conflicts and almost daily violations of Lebanese airspace by Israeli war planes has made it unpopular among the people of southern Lebanon.

In November, a former UNIFIL commander, Alain Pellegrini, revealed Israel's attempts to spy on the international troops.

He told al-Manar TV station that Israeli agents had access to all the reports and information submitted by the UNIFIL forces to the United Nations, adding that he did not know the exact mechanism allowing this infiltration.

“The information goes to the Israelis either by tapping, or at the time it reaches the United Nations in New York,” Pellegrini said.

"Every time I send my semi-annual report to the UNIFIL, attached by details for the leadership of United Nations forces alone, and despite the fact that the report is encrypted, I immediately receive after each report to New York, a letter from the Israeli Army, containing suggestions for writing the report, hoping to amend it!"

In an earlier interview with the Lebanese daily As-Safir, Pellegrini disclosed repeated attempts by Washington to persuade UNIFIL to fall in line with its own policy.

"I was offered to join American officers in the event of launching joint operations," he said in a reference to events around the July-August 2006 war Israel waged against Lebanon.

"The US had deployed (off the coast of Lebanon) the 24th Marine Intervention Unit, which has the capability to intervene in my operational area and would be ready to provide me with reinforcements in case of launching any operation."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155589.html.