Irish soldiers about to be deployed to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon have said they are not afraid as they prepare to travel to a region of high tensions.
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon has flared in recent days as fears grow that the fighting between Israel and Hamas could disrupt other areas across the Middle East.
The 123rd battalion will see 334 Irish personnel and nine people from Malta deployed to the United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) next month.
At the Glen of Imaal in Co Wicklow on Thursday, Defence Forces soldiers carried out a military training exercise which included the testing of heat-seeking Javelin missiles.
The commanding officer of the 123rd battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Mac Eoin, said his colleagues in Lebanon have described the current conditions as “tense”, but said the soldiers were “ready to go and do their job”.
“There are exchanges of fire, both north and south across the blue line, but the soldiers are responding well to it.
“They would have been through exactly the same training and process that we’re going through today. And that training is designed actually to prepare the soldiers for just that type of scenario.
“So the troops are responding well, they’re in good shape, and as far as we’re concerned, there’s no change to the plan, we’re ploughing on and we’re deploying as planned.”
Mr Mac Eoin, who has served in Kosovo, Chad, Congo and Lebanon, said it was understandable that some of the soldiers’ family members are concerned.
He said the soldiers had been given a live update on the situation and were also helped “to counter some of the misinformation and disinformation that is spreading around”.
He described the tasks the soldiers will have, as mandated by the United Nations – to monitor, to observe, to report, and to protect civilians once deployed to the blue line.
“So when our troops are over, we familiarise ourselves with the area of operations, we’ll take over from the guys and girls who are there at the moment, and essentially will occupy those posts, and we continue to do what we’re doing.
“So our operations are essentially to support the government of Lebanon by patrolling alongside the Lebanese Armed Forces. And sometimes without the Lebanese Armed Forces, we call those framework operations.
“And in the scenario whereby we do have exchanges of fire, our troops are trained to respond to get into very well-protected positions.”
This will be the first mission for Kilkenny brothers Tiarnan and Caolan O’Reilly, aged 24 and 22.
Asked how they were feeling, they both said they were looking forward to it and were not afraid.
Tiarnan O’Reilly said he has been following developments “a little bit”, but his brother Caolan said they are “well trained for it”.
Matt Kinnaird, who turned 20 on October 7, is the youngest member of the battalion.
“In the job, you do grow up very quickly,” he said, adding that he tries to listen to his senior officers and take “all their advice on board”.
“I do my best to stay updated with as much as possible. No, I’m not too much worried.
“We cover all kinds of aspects here in our training, so we’re prepared for anything.
He said his parents had a “little bit of nerves” from what they are seeing on social media.
“I’ve reassured them of the training we’re doing up here,” he added.
Lieutenant Essie O’Connell, 25, who joined in 2016, said she is “not very nervous because we’ve done a lot of training”.
“It’s been very robust training. It’s exact same every year, we’re trained for every event.”
She said the relationship between the group was “very important”.
“It’s a very long six months so everyone needs good cohesion, and for everyone to have good morale and everyone is looking forward to going over.
“There’s not anyone too nervous. There will be people nervous but everyone is there for each other and looking out for each other and when we complete the mission everyone is working together.”
Asked about whether the group is discussing the tense situation, she said: “If people do bring it up, we’re just say to just concentrate on the training at the moment, that when we get out there, we’ll find out.”
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
