Irish troops to leave for Syrian mission next week

THE DEPLOYMENT of Irish troops to Syria will take place as early as next Thursday following approval for the move by Cabinet last week, Minister for Defence Alan Shatter has said.

While an initial group of six would travel, the numbers involved in future rotations would be reviewed by Government.

Mr Shatter believed the Irish personnel would be in the frontline of the high-risk monitoring mission. “They should have and will have, I hope, free access to the general population there,” he said.

“There’s been some very disturbing reports from Syria . . . that some individuals in the general population have been killed following on from having contact with the UN monitoring .

“This is an issue that we need to keep a very careful eye on to ensure that our troops are both safe and allowed to fulfil their role as monitors.”

The Irish personnel will be part of a United Nations mission to monitor if both sides in the fighting are meeting their ceasefire obligations under the so-called six-point plan put forward by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Meanwhile, the Defence Forces will also deploy a much larger group to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

A 332-strong 106th Infantry Battalion will join 171 Finnish troops as part of a joint Irish-Finnish battalion.

The first of the Irish battalion leaves for Lebanon next Tuesday, with the remainder travelling two weeks later. The troops replace Irish personnel who have been in Lebanon since last November.

Irish troops were redeployed to Lebanon as part of the UN’s mission there last summer. The Irish had withdrawn in 2001 after 23 years in Lebanon but went back again with the UN in 2006 after an escalation of hostilities.

During a review of the Lebanon-bound troops at McKee Barracks in north Dublin yesterday, Mr Shatter said that while no mission was without danger, the departing personnel were well equipped to deal with the challenges.