Lebanon is attempting to piece together a serious incident involving the death of an Irish soldier during a UN peacekeeping mission, when a vehicle he was travelling in came under gunfire.
Private Seán Rooney (24) was killed late on Wednesday evening, after he was attacked alongside three other peacekeepers, as they drove through the village of Sarafand in southern Lebanon on a routine trip to Beirut airport. Private Shane Kearney (22), remains in a critical condition in hospital, while two other soldiers in the car are also in hospital but in a stable condition.
Speaking to The Irish Times outside the hospital, Captain Diarmuid O’Dwyer from the Irish battalion of peacekeepers said a group of his troops will remain outside the hospital until all three men have been discharged.
“Two men are in good health and should be released in the not so distant future,” he said.
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However, Pte Kearney, remains in a serious condition in an induced coma after suffering trauma to the head.
The incident occurred outside the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (Unifil) area of operation, Andrea Tenenti, Unifil spokesman told The Irish Times. One of the vehicles, driven by Pte Rooney, took an unexpected turn on to a road not normally taken by the UN force, and encountered a group in Sarafand who were surprised to see the UN patrol vehicle, locals told The Irish Times.
“Preliminary reports indicated the vehicle was shot at by gunfire,” Mr Tenenti said, adding that the vehicle presumably took “a wrong turn”. Mr Tenenti described the incident as “unacceptable”. “This was a crime against our troops, a crime against the United Nations, against people that are trying to bring stability in south Lebanon.”
Unifil has been present in Lebanon since 1978, acting as a buffer zone between Lebanon and Israel; two nations holding a fierce history of conflict. The UN-backed mission allows the forces to monitor and patrol the southern territory, initially following Israel’s occupation of Lebanon’s south during their 1975-90 civil war. Today, around 10,000 troops from various UN member states conduct routine operations to monitor for any sparks of conflict.
On Friday morning Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, alongside other senior government and military figures, visited Unifil’s headquarters in Naqoura, to condemn the incident and express condolences. “We express our deep sorrow over the incident, and the necessary investigations are continuing to uncover the circumstances of the incident,” he said.
It remains unclear as to who was involved in the shooting of the vehicle and what exactly happened to spark the attack. An investigation by Lebanese and Irish authorities respectively is under way, while Unifil will conduct its own investigation, Mr Tenenti said.
In the town of Aaqbiya, where Pte Rooney was fatally killed, locals told The Irish Times that people attempted to block the UN vehicle’s path as it was taking the wrong route – outside Unifil’s designated path to Beirut.
As the vehicle began to drive away, it was shot at from behind by cars which had begun to chase it, the local mayor, Bassam Jaafar said. A video filmed by an eyewitness and seen by The Irish Times shows the white UN vehicle swerving through cars to the sounds of gunshots and shouting. As it was hit by further shots, the car lost control, smashed into a storefront and overturned.
The mayor said it is not known who was responsible for the gunfire but added that all evidence is being gathered by the authorities, who will proceed with the investigation. He emphasised that the locals wanted to stop the car because it had taken “the wrong route”.
It has shocked locals in the town, who called it a rare event. Many rushed to aid the wounded troops at the time. “The Zahrani area was very shocked, and condemned this type of behaviour. We believe that even if the Unifil car did take the wrong route, it should never lead to gunfire,” Jaafar said, adding the south has always had an intimate relationship with Unifil. “Since we were young, we have thought that Unifil is our protector in the south. There have even been marriages between Irish people who came from Unifil and people in the south.”
However, despite Unifil’s neutral position, it is not without controversy. One of Lebanon’s most powerful political parties is opposed to the force’s presence. Hizbullah, the Iran-backed Shia Musilm group, holds a dominant influence in the southern areas where the peacekeepers patrol. For many locals, Hizbullah’s military wing is considered the only body responsible for protecting Lebanon and acting as an integral resistance against Israeli attacks along the unmarked border which remains a real risk. Israel occupied south Lebanon until 2000, and the two countries’ last fought in 2006, with the two nations remaining technically still at war.
Hizbullah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has spoken openly about his disdain for the force’s presence, believing it a foreign entity in the country. As such, many were quick to name Hizbullah as responsible for Wednesday’s incident, to which the group denied any involvement.
Despite initial reporting, the locale is not Hizbullah dominated, but is rather a stronghold of Hizbullah’s ally, the Amal Movement, another Shiite group and a former militia during Lebanon’s civil war.