A senior Hizbullah figure in the area patrolled by Irish troops close to the Israeli border asked at the weekend that his organisation's appreciation should be extended to the Irish peacekeepers who have served here and particularly to the families of the 40 soldiers who died here.
He described the soldiers who had died as "martyrs", the highest honour that can be bestowed on the memory of Islamic fighters.
The Hizbullah leader, a man in his mid-30s who asked not to be named, was speaking in the Muslim village of At Tiri, which has been guarded by the Irish Battalion in Lebanon at the cost of six lives and several injured.
In Easter 1980 the Irish Battalion fought a battle with the Israeli-supported South Lebanon Army (SLA), which was then engaged in ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population.
Three soldiers were killed at the time and three others died in the subsequent protection of the village.
At Tiri had a population of over 4,000, most of whom stayed after the Israeli invasion but were eventually forced to leave in 1985 after the SLA carried out a number of atrocities here.
Three men had their throats cut in one incident and immediately after that all but about 200 elderly people left the village.
The elderly population had dwindled to only 72 people by the time Israel withdrew its forces from south Lebanon last week and its surrogate Lebanese militia, the SLA, collapsed and fled.
For the past 15 years the Irish Battalion has maintained, at times with very great risk to the lives of soldiers, a heavily fortified observation post on the edge of the village. The post looks directly onto a SLA position. Artillery from this SLA position routinely shelled the surrounding Muslim-occupied countryside.
The village and the Irish position were actually inside the Israeli-controlled area, making the holding of the position doubly difficult.
There were regular assaults by the SLA on the Irish post. Every morning for the past 15 years Irish mine-clearing teams swept the roadway up to the village to ensure the safe passage of the armoured personnel carriers that kept up the supply of provisions to the post and medicine for the ageing population of At Tiri. The Irish Battalion's medics were the sole means of medical care for the villagers.
Last week, for the first time in 20 years the village was filled with the sounds of the villagers' grandchildren playing in the narrow streets. It was the first time that most of the elderly residents had seen these children.
The village Muktar, or mayor, Mr Ali Fakih (68), said the return of the families was like a dream. His children left the area in 1985 after their home and several others in the village was attacked. A neighbour across the street was killed in his home and the house set on fire.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said: "It is like a dream. I still cannot believe I am looking at my sons and their children here around me. It all happened so quickly, in five minutes after 20 years."
He and other villagers were first alerted to the returning families on Tuesday morning when they heard a motorbike coming down the steep road into the village.
At first they thought this might be the SLA coming to attack them but within hours expelled families began arriving in cars and minibuses, many to abandoned and semi-derelict houses. Many were members of a large extended family called Cheaito.
Many of the expelled families joined the Hizbullah movement and 10 men from the village were killed during the conflict, joining the 1,200 who died in the war with Israel.
In 1995 a local man, Salah Glandour, killed himself and several Israeli soldiers in a suicide car bomb attack on an Israeli position south of the town.
When it emerged the car bomb had been stored in At Tiri the villagers were rounded up and a couple in their 60s held for a while in the notorious Khiam prison in the then Israeli-controlled area.
On Saturday a senior Hizbullah figure, visiting the village, said he wished to express thanks on behalf of the people to the Irish Battalion "for all the assistance that they offered to our old people who remained in the village of At Tiri.
"It was through their support that the old people were able to continue their lives up to this day. Whatever we are saying about the Irish Battalion is not enough.
"The villagers of At Tiri, every person and all of their children are aware of what the Irish did. There were Irish martyrs here. Irish blood was spilt on our soil."
He said the village would raise a memorial for the soldiers who had died on duty protecting the village.