THE REMAINDER OF the members of the 104th Battalion will leave Dublin Airport for Lebanon in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
The 200 troops will join 240 personnel already in the country on peacekeeping duties. An advance team was deployed at the end of May to establish an Irish military HQ in the southern city of Tebnin. A large group of troops left last week and now this second contingent will join them.
The Irish area of operations covers 140 square kilometres extending from Tibnin in South Lebanon to the Blue line along the border with Israel. The Irish forces base camp is in Tibnin, with two smaller posts along the Blue line.
The Belfast Telegraph reports that the youngest member of the Battalion is 20-year-old Emma Furlong, who grew up at the army base in the Curragh.
The operation is part of the UNIFIL mission, which is the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. UNIFIL was created by the UN Security Council in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. The Irish troops will be concerned with monitoring the cessation of hostilities, assisting the Lebanese Armed Forces and making sure humanitarian aid reaches civilians.
The current UNIFIL force is made up of 12,000 personnel from 31 nations. Irish officers have been involved in Lebanon since 1958, while the first Irish Battalion went to the country in 1978.
Forty-seven Irish troops have lost their lives on peacekeeping missions in Lebanon since 1978.
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