Some fathers and sons play golf together or go fishing, but the McGaherns from Fermoy have a slightly different take on family time — they’ve both been deployed to troubled Golan Heights together.

Hezbollah buried its fighters killed the day before in what it said was an Israeli airstrike in Syria as Tehran announced that an Iranian general also died with the six members of the Lebanese Shi’ite group.

An organisation representing soldiers serving on the Golan Heights is demanding that a specialist team be sent out to help them cope with the stress of being under fire by Syrian insurgents.

Irish troops are to remain on the Golan Heights.

The Israeli military shot down a Syrian fighter jet that infiltrated its airspace over the Golan Heights today.

Defence Minister Simon Coveney does not believe US president Barack Obama’s pronouncements on the Middle East should be a concern for Irish peacekeepers in the region.

Embattled Irish troops in the Golan Heights are making their views known to an on-the-ground UN review as the Government awaits a decision from UN headquarters on their request for a change in the mission.

Ireland may not replace its 133-person rapid response force in the Golan Heights.

Enda Kenny has demanded an urgent overhaul of the UN mandate for Irish troops in the Golan Heights after Simon Coveney, the defence minister, branded the danger they faced as "unacceptable."

Defence Minister Simon Coveney has said that Irish troops deployed as part of the UN mission in the disputed Golan Heights will not be replaced unless the mission is reviewed.

Syrian rebels, including fighters from an al Qaida-linked group, have seized control of a border crossing with Israel in the Golan Heights after heavy clashes with President Bashar Assad’s forces, activists and rebels said.

In her column (Opinion, July 24) Victoria White has cobbled a ragbag of factoids together in a disjointed and illogical proposal that, “we have a duty to stand with the Palestinians”.

More than 100 Irish soldiers have been deployed for a six-month stint in the Golan Heights.

More than 100 Irish soldiers have been deployed for a six-month stint in the Golan Heights.

The first batch of soldiers from the 43rd Infantry Group of the Irish Defence Forces departs for Syria today.

Irish troops being deployed to Syria have been given special training in the event of a chemical attack.

The United Nations has assured the Government that the safety of Irish peacekeepers is paramount on their upcoming mission to the Golan Heights.

Up to 150 Irish troops will be deployed to the Middle East to protect a sensitive border crossing.

The United Nations warned half of all Syrians will need humanitarian aid by the end of 2013 and launched what it said was the largest emergency appeal in history to cope with the civil war crisis.

Austria announced it is withdrawing 377 UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights after Syrian rebels briefly overran a crossing point near the border with Israel, a development that has deepened concerns the civil war is spreading to neighbouring countries.

The Philippines remains committed to deploying troops in UN peacekeeping hotspots despite the brief hostage-taking of 21 of its soldiers, military officials have said.

Syrian rebels have freed 21 UN peacekeepers and have handed them to Jordanian authorities, according to an international peace envoy.

Israel has destroyed a Syrian armoured vehicle in retaliation after a mortar shell landed on its territory in the first direct confrontation between the countries since the Syrian uprising broke out.

Wars of the future are likely to be fought over water as climate change, the needs of growing populations, and the greed of politicians collide, writes Dan Buckley

Israeli troops opened fire today at a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters who tried to break into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from neighbouring Syria, killing as many as 11 people and wounding scores in a burst of violence marking the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war.

Four people were reported to have been shot dead today when the Israeli military opened fire on a group of Syrians trying to cross the border along the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The UN’s special co-ordinator for Lebanon said he plans to visit Israel next week with the UN commander in southern Lebanon to discuss Israel’s decision “in principle” to pull troops out of the northern half of a village that straddles the border.

Israel agreed today to pull its troops out of the northern half of a village which straddles the border with Lebanon, defusing a long-standing political dispute but frightening villagers who do not want their community divided.

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu may endorse a Palestinian state when he meets US president Barack Obama in Washington tomorrow, a minister said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said he is willing to negotiate peace with Syria, but only if talks are held without preconditions.

A motorist died tonight when his four-wheel-drive collided with a fence.

Peace with Syria requires an Israeli commitment to surrender the strategic Golan Heights and cannot be achieved through secret negotiations, a Syrian state newspaper said today, a day after an Israeli newspaper reported that envoys of the two countries had agreed a framework for peace during secret talks.

SYRIA, one of Hezbollah’s main backers, said in remarks published yesterday that it will press for a ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative, signalling it was ready to help defuse the Lebanese crisis.

Syria, one of Hezbollah’s main backers, said in remarks published today that it will press for a ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative, signalling it was ready to help defuse the Lebanese crisis.

World Cup Group 4 Qualifier latest:

ISRAEL would not endanger its security by giving up the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria, Israel’s army chief said yesterday, departing from the military’s traditional view that Israel needs at least part of the plateau as a buffer.

US warplanes pounded Fallujah with 500lb laser-guided bombs and US Marines battled with Iraqi insurgents near a train station and in neighbourhoods that had seemed to be quieting.

THE besieged Shi’ite city of Fallujah was rocked again by a series of explosions and gunfire yesterday — only hours after a heavy battle in which US warplanes and artillery pounded insurgents holed up in a slum.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav invited Syrian leader Syrian Bashar Assad to peace talks today – an overture that put him at odds with prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Connections of Kris Kin believe that the Vodafone Derby winner can confirm the form with Epsom third Alamshar in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot tomorrow.

NAYEF stormed to a convincing victory in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot yesterday.

You can’t keep a good man down.

A total of 16 horses remain in the Juddmonte Lockinge at the confirmation stage for the Group One feature at Newbury on Saturday.