Irish troops serving with Unifil in Lebanon are “good and keeping well” in spite of “very deliberate” attacks by Israel on peacekeepers, the head of the Defence Forces Lieutenant General Seán Clancy has said.
“They’re very strong. They’re resolute. I suppose at the end of the day, they’re professional soldiers, and this is what they’re trained to do,” he told RTÉ's Six One News.
Two UN peacekeepers were injured on Friday by an Israeli strike near their watchtower in south Lebanon, while blasts shook the peacekeepers’ main base in the area for the second time in 48 hours as Israeli forces battled Hizbullah. The Unifil force said the incident was a “serious development”.
Resupply convoys delivered over 100,000 litres of raw water and 2,200 cases of bottled water to Irish troops at Camp Shamrock on Friday. “This delivery complements a fresh food supply received on October 9th, which greatly increases the provisions available to the Battalion,” said the Defence Forces in a statement, noting that their area of operation had been relatively calm on Friday.
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General Clancy said while Irish troops have had “a reprieve” from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) holding positions near an Irish Unifil camp, IDF gunfire hitting the Unifil positions in the last 24 hours was unacceptable.
He said injury to two Unifil peacekeepers was “a grave concern, because this is a clear violation. It’s an egregious violation in my in my view, the actions are reckless, and they [the IDF] need to be accountable in terms of what is happening under any circumstances. Attacks on UN peacekeepers cannot be tolerated”.
Asked if he accepted an Israeli claim troops were firing at Hizbullah targets and that what happened was inadvertent, General Clancy said he did not accept the explanation.
He said an observation tower being hit by a round from a tank “directly into it” had to be “very deliberate as it is a direct fire”.
General Clancy said the decision for the Irish peacekeepers of whether or not to stay in south Lebanon was not “as clear as a binary choice”.
“We’ve seen many wars come and go in Lebanon, the rational reason we are there is to provide support for a peaceful society for building peace, and which was consequence of the cessation of violence, of violence back in 2006 and beyond.
“Observation is more important than ever, the eyes and ears of the world need to be on southern Lebanon at this point in time.” He said Unifil, through its mandate from 50 contributing countries, needs to “remain steadfast in its role.”
“What tomorrow will bring, I would hope, and I will call for a cessation of the violence, a de-escalation of what’s happening in southern Lebanon at this time, in order to allow for diplomacy to come in.
“But at this point in time, objective and verifiable information of what is actually happening in the Lebanon is most important. It is something that was absent in Gaza,” he said.
“In this case, the acts that are happening in southern Lebanon need to be recorded, and they need to be accountable for those who actually are undertaking the acts from whatever side.”
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