A contingent of 150 Irish solders will be sent to Lebanon at the end of this month as part of an Irish/Finnish unit joining the United Nations interim force in the region (Unifil), the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has announced.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Defence Forces' staff representative association Pdforra in Waterford yesterday, Mr O'Dea said the Cabinet had on Tuesday approved the deployment of troops, and 150 soldiers were now scheduled to leave for Lebanon on either October 30th or 31st for 12 months.
The Irish soldiers will mainly be deployed to protect the 200-strong Finnish engineering unit which is travelling to Lebanon to help rebuild parts of the country damaged by Israel's bombardment during its 34-day offensive against Hizbullah.
They will also be involved in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Intelligence sources had indicated that Hizbullah and Israel had "no intention at the moment of resuming hostilities" Mr O'Dea said, however there was a potential threat to Irish troops from al-Qaeda.
"There are a few locations in southern Lebanon being used as training grounds for al-Qaeda jihadists going to Iraq and the second-in-command of al-Qaeda has described Unifil forces as the enemies of Islam."
It was "most unfortunate", he said, that Irish troops had to return to Lebanon, however, there was a "real and substantive role for the Defence Forces in supporting the rebuilding of Lebanon".
Their presence in the region would be reassessed by the Government after 12 months, however Mr O'Dea said he envisaged the troops would not stay in Lebanon for longer than two to three years.
"There must be no repeat of the situation the last time we went into Lebanon for a few years and stayed for 23, and we hope the United Nations won't have to be in Lebanon for that length of time on this occasion."
Chief-of-Staff of the Defence Forces Lieut Gen Jim Sreenan said it was "appropriate" that the Government should join in what was a "very serious European effort to provide a strong UN force in south Lebanon".
The previous and recent Irish experience in the region made them an extremely valuable force he said.
"I am confident that we will be better equipped force than the last time we entered Lebanon. We have a lot more experience because of the Balkans and because of Liberia."
The central element of the solution to the problems in Lebanon had to be political, he said. "Hopefully there will be some movement on the political side. Military only provides one dimension and there has to be very serious efforts at political progress."
The troops will be deployed to Ibil As Saqy in the northeast area of south Lebanon. Irish troops have not served in the area before, however, it is well known to the Finnish troops.
The area was volatile, Lieut Gen Sreenan said, but all the indications were that the 15,000-strong Lebanese army was acting in an "extremely professional way".
