Irish troops prepare to leave Lebanon
Following conflict that flared up again in southern Lebanon last year, Irish troops were re-deployed to the region in October. At a brief ceremony at Camp Ida today — in an area known as Blate — soldiers will finish their 12-month mission.
Troops were deployed in a joint Finnish-Irish engineer battalion last year, in which Defence Force members carried out reconnaissance and protection duties as Finnish troops went about de-mining and reconstruction work in southern Lebanon. Defence Force spokesman Captain Feargal Purcell described how the Army was now beginning to focus on Chad in north Africa and neighbouring Darfur. More than 350 soldiers will fly into the region in January, where General Patrick Nash will head up a total force of 4,000 EU troops.
