BREAK FOR THE BORDER FORCE
Welcome for our heroes peacekeeping at Israel warzone
A UNIT of brave Irish soldiers flew home to a hero’s welcome yesterday – after a peace mission along one of the world’s most dangerous frontiers.
Some 170 members of the 122 Infantry Battalion were greeted by a throng of family and friends at Dublin Airport at the end of their six month tour of duty along the de facto border between Lebanon and Israel.
The area exploded in violence on October 8 – the day after Hamas terrorists killed more than 14,200 people when they attacked southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Israel immediately retaliated in a brutal onslaught that has now seen more than 12,000 people killed – and the conflict immediately spread to the Lebanese border.
Islamic paramilitary group Hezbollah started firing rockets and missiles into northern Israel from there – in an effort to divert Israeli forces from the attack on Gaza.
MIDDLE
But that saw a huge response from Israel and there are now daily rocket duels between them and Hezbollah – with Irish troops stuck in the middle.
The soldiers who arrived home yesterday were part of a 338-strong Irish United Nations peacekeeping force tasked with keeping the peace along the so-called Blue Line, the de facto border between the two countries – and were regularly caught up in the low level war.
Shells and missiles regularly landed in their area of operations and the soldiers had to go into Groundhog – the army term for going into specially hardened blast proof shelters until the situation calmed down.
But despite the threats to their own lives the soldiers continued patrolling right up to the border – and helping the local community escape trouble spots.
Battalion commander Lieutenantcolonel Cathal Keohane yesterday told The Sunday Mirror at Dublin Airport that the men and women under his command had been outstanding during the crisis – which is the most violence the area has seen since the Irish left in 2001 after serving there since 1978, before returning again in 2009.
He said: “The Irish Army has been in Lebanon for 45 years. We thankfully have not been involved in this situation since 2001, when you scratch the surface the character of the soldier is still there.
“They are waiting for the challenge. They rose to the challenge in an absolutely significant manner and they are great people.” And Lt-col Keohane admitted it was a relief to bring the mission to an end – without suffering any casualties.
He said: “I’m delighted. It’s a big relief.
“We did say at the outset that the chief metric of success was to get everybody sitting on the plane.
“It was emotional when the plane did land, but we are absolutely over the moon.”
And he admitted that it was probably worse for the families back home in Ireland than for the soldiers on the front line.
He said: “It has been a difficult 45 days for everybody, but particularly for the families.
“For us, we know what we are doing, we know the capabilities of the equipment, we know the capabilities of the bunkers and we know the strength of our team, for the families they are not aware of that but they have been reassured all along.
“We have had contact with the families, people have been ringing home throughout the period.
“It is a significant stress release for people to get home today.”
Company Anthony Morgan, from Coolock in north Dublin, told The Sunday Mirror he was glad to be home.
He was a key member of the transport section – that made sure all the battalion’s armoured vehicles were kept on the road. He said: “It was an interesting trip. It was quite intense. We had a few Groundhogs and we were in the bunkers, but it was all good, we felt safe enough.” And his wife Lisa added: “It was a worrying time. I was watching the news and counting the days. “I am just relieved he is home.” The entire 122 In Bn is back home and was replaced by the 123rd, which will stay until May. Some 48 Irish soldiers have died in southern Lebanon since 1978. The last to die was Private Sean Rooney (23) from Donegal, shot dead in December 2022.
For us we know what we are doing, the capabilities of the equipment...and we know the strength of our team
48
The number of Irish soldiers who have been killed in Leb since 1978