Ireland’s peacekeeping mission drawing to end
THE Irish Mirror today begins a weeklong trip to visit our soldiers keeping the peace on one of the world’s most dangerous frontlines.
We will be reporting from Camp Faouar on the Golan Heights, where 136 Irish soldiers are helping to keep the peace between Syria and Israel.
They are all serving with UNDOF, the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission which has been active for 40 years.
It acts as a barrier between Israel and Syria after the Jewish state invaded and took a large chunk of the Golan Heights following a war in 1973.
Some 130 of the Irish personnel form the 68th Infantry Group and are the UNDOF Force Reaction Company, or emergency response unit. The other six soldiers are part of the HQ staff.
The FRC is on 15 minutes’ standby to be sent in to help other countries’ soldiers from the deployment if they get into trouble.
The Irish detachment, which relies on more than two dozen heavily-armed €1million Mowag armoured cars for protection, has been a key element of UNDOF since 2013 and it is one of the most dangerous UN missions.
Syria is ravaged by a civil war and that saw Irish troops go into action on several occasions as they defended themselves or other UN soldiers from attack.
Although there have been no serious incidents in recent years.
In 2014, heroic Irish troops from the 44th Infantry Group rescued Filipino soldiers from Syrian rebels.
UNDOF covers an area of some 1,800 square kilometres and has a population of
100,000 people – half of which are Syrian Arabs, and the other half are Israeli settlers.
UNDOF, which is made up of almost 1,200 soldiers and civilian staff, patrols the so-called area of separation, a no-man’s land buffer zone between the Israeli and Syrian-controlled land.
Although we have been there since 2013, the 68th Infantry Group is leaving in March and will not be replaced by any Irish contingent.
The infantry group, led by Lieutenant-colonel Oliver Clear, will be replaced by Kazakhstan soldiers.
The UNDOF zone is close to the border between Israel and Lebanon – scene of on an ongoing confrontation.
Israel has been trading blows with Islamic group Hezbollah along the long border, including in an area patrolled by 330 Irish UNIFIL troops, and
UNDOF is on alert for any hostilities spelling over.
There have been 22 explosions or shelling in the UNDOF area. Just a fortnight ago Israel mounted an air attack on a Syrian Air Force base near Damascus, an hour away. Sources said the UNDOF area is now tense, but stable.
We will be reporting from the camp every day – speaking to the 130 members of the 68th Inf Group and the six Irish staff on the HQ staff. A spokeswoman said: “Defence Forces personnel in theatre have justifiably represented Ireland and its peacekeeping values for approximately five month.
“In approximately one month the 68 inf Gp UNDOF will withdraw from that mission, drawing to a close the Defence Forces’ commitment there for the last 10 years. “Approximately 2,600 individual tours of duty will have been completed in
that time.”
2,600 ... tours of duty will have been completed DEFENCE FORCES ON WORK OF IRISH TROOPS