Irish peacekeepers in crossfire as Lebanon situation 'tense and unpredictable'

Tánaiste Micheál Martin with Lt Col Stephen Mac Eoin at Camp Shamrock in Debel on Sunday. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Shelling, air strikes, and machine-gun fire — some munitions striking within 100m of Irish peacekeepers — are being fired daily in a ‘tit-for-tat conflict’ between Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Mac Eoin said there are now repeated exchanges of fire north and south across the blue-line frontier between Hezbollah militants in Southern Lebanon and Israeli defence forces across the border.

“It is very, very loud. You can’t necessarily hear people talking. There can be a shockwave effect, depending on the type of munition that is used,” said Lt Col Mac Eoin, commanding officer of the 123rd Infantry Battalion.

Although Irish peacekeepers are not necessarily the target of these attacks, they may be caught in the crossfire, he said.

We have had a number of occasions when rockets have been launched very close to our bases and those rockets have gone either overhead or in very close proximity.

“If such rockets are intercepted and they fall, that can cause a challenge," he said.

Micheál Martin inspects the 124th Infantry Battalion at Camp Shamrock. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

“We have very, very well- rehearsed drills, where we will go to bunkers while at the same time maintaining an active posture.”

Since November, Irish peacekeepers have had to retreat for cover in bunkers hundreds of times, sometimes multiple times a day and for periods of up to seven hours.

“It is quite unpredictable. It is largely described by some of the commentators as a tit-for-tat conflict,” said Lt Col Mac Eoin.

“It is arguably below the threshold of full war, but it is extremely damaging. 

There have been hundreds of casualties and millions of euro worth of damage done to houses. It is a tense and unpredictable situation and it is ongoing.

Escalations in Gaza have been mirrored in Southern Lebanon since October 7, with Hezbollah militants attacking Israeli infrastructure across the border, just 7km from the Camp Shamrock United Nations Interim Force Lebanon (Unifil) base.

A cessation of the war in Gaza could lead to a de-escalation in Southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Micheál Martin said when visiting Irish peacekeepers at the Unifil site yesterday.

“Hezbollah has to pull back and Israel will have to pull back, in my view, in the aftermath of an end to the war in Gaza,” Mr Martin said. 

Because when you see the destruction in Gaza, of the civilians, men, women, and children, innocent civilians killed, why would you visit that upon Lebanon?

“Through what moral lens would you even contemplate that?”

On Monday, the Tánaiste will meet with Lebanese minister for defence Maurice Sleem and minister of foreign affairs Abdallah BouHabib to push for progress on the Private Seán Rooney murder case.

Irish soldier Pte Rooney, 24, from Co Donegal, was killed when the UN jeep he and three other colleagues were in was fired on late at night on December 14, 2022, about 50km south of Beirut. Cork soldier, Private Shane Kearney, 22, was also badly injured in the ambush.