Colin Sheridan: Ireland's peacekeepers have a job to do in Lebanon. And do it they will

To understand why Ireland's contributions to the UN, and peacekeeping in Lebanon in particular, are so valuable, we must acknowledge our roles as outliers in the international community

Irish troops on duty with the 124th Irish-Polish Battalion in Unifil, Lebanon, with members from the armed forces of Malta and Hungary. Dismissing their role as failing to keep a peace where there’s no peace to be kept is a gross and ignorant over-simplification. Picture: Defence Forces

It was, sadly, only a matter of time before Israel’s war on Palestine and Palestinians made its way north from Gaza, and over the imaginary border, across the Blue Line into South Lebanon. 

With that inevitably comes some hard truths for hundreds, even thousands of Irish people at home, worried about their loved ones.