THE FIRST of two large deployments of Irish troops to south Lebanon was expected to get under way in the early hours of this morning when 200 soldiers were due to leave from Dublin airport.
They will today take up their places with the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (Unifil) and will be followe d by another 200-strong group of Irish troops, who will depart the Republic on Sunday for their six-month mission.
An advance party has been on the ground in Lebanon since the end of last month, preparing the way for those now travelling in the main deployment.
The new Irish camp is in the southern Lebanese village of Tibnin, the same place where Irish peacekeeping troops were based from 1979 until 2001.
Those due to depart for Lebanon in the early hours of this morning, and as part of the second tranche on Sunday, are all members of the 104th Battalion.
Their area of operations measures 140sq km, extending from Tibnin to the “blue line” along the border with Israel. The Irish contingent will not only occupy the large camp in Tibnin, but will also have two smaller posts along the blue line.
The two smaller posts will not be occupied until next month, when the Irish contingent have bedded into their main base.
The Irish, some 440 in total, will form part of a 12,000 Unifil force comprised of troops from 31 nations. They will be armed with an array of weapons, including anti-tank missiles.
A large number of military vehicles has already been shipped to Lebanon, including almost 40 Mowag armoured personnel carriers and light-armoured tactical vehicles. The Irish troops will conduct extensive mobile patrols in armoured military vehicles and will monitor activity along the Lebanon-Israel border.
It is their first major mission since the Defence Forces’ withdrawal from Chad just over one year ago. Irish troops were first deployed to Lebanon in 1958.
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