Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
IN APRIL, A team of army soldiers will begin moving €23 million worth of equipment from Syria to a port in Lebanon where it will meet a chartered ship to return it all to Ireland.
The operation will move in excess of 280,000 separate pieces of equipment in dozens of containers and also Armoured Personnel Carriers and heavy duty weaponry.
This week The Journal met two of the team managing the plan in Camp Faouar on The Golan inside Syria.
The Irish Defence Forces is ending its ten-year involvement in peacekeeping as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Mission inside Syria next month.
The men leading the preparation for the move are logistics experts Battalion Quartermaster Colm Donnelly, who is stationed in Finner Camp in County Donegal, and Captain Andrew O’Neill who is normally based in The Curragh.
As their colleagues patrolled the increasingly violent surrounds outside the camp, the men have been keeping stocks of food, clothing and equipment at the level required for a functioning camp.
Both are experts in logistics and have decades of experience between them.
Since July they have been planning the execution of the biggest movement of Defence Forces equipment in the last ten years.
O’Neill said the plan has been in constant planning and preparation and will involve multiple convoys to make it all run smoothly.
“It is a mammoth task,” the captain said.
“It was daunting at first when we started thinking about it but when we got into it we created a plan.
“This is not something we started a few weeks ago, this is something that has been a long drawn out process when we got together in our form up back in July. We’ve been thinking about this the whole way through and making plans the whole way through,” he said.
Loading containers must be done in a way that customs officers in Syria must be able to check the load. Niall O'Connor / The Journal
Niall O'Connor / The Journal / The Journal
Complex
The plan is a complex one – they are leaving one troubled country and passing through another, Lebanon, which is tense right now due to daily bombardments between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
Advertisement
During The Journal’s visit to the troops there were multiple incidents of shelling and bombings in Damascus and the village of Hadar to the north west of the Irish camp. Dozens of strikes have happened in Lebanon also. It is a dynamic area and the tense atmosphere changes hourly.
Their plan is not just complicated by the movement of multiple convoys it will be further stress tested by the situation on the ground which includes travelling over winding, narrow and poorly paved roads.
The team have asked, for security reasons, not to identify the specific days when the convoys will move or where they will travel, but their ultimate destination will be one of two ports in the region with their preference for Beirut.
O’Neill said: “Lebanon, at the moment, is extremely volatile and it can really kick off at a moment’s notice – so we have contingency plans in place for a different port.”
There they will meet a ship, chartered by the Irish Defence Forces to move the equipment home over 21 days of sailing – out through the contested waters off Lebanon, through the Mediterranean and home to Dublin.
O’Neill said the first point of the plan was to reduce the load coming home – and that has been achieved by deciding on what was not needed back at home in Ireland.
That reduction has been achieved by sending some equipment to their colleagues in South Lebanon attached to the UNIFIL mission there.
Outside their logistics base there is a specialist heavily armoured digger used to clear minefields and roadside bombs – that along with other critical equipment will go to the Irish base Camp Shamrock near the town of At Tiri inside Lebanon.
Another part of the plan was that they needed to decide on what equipment was critical to achieving the mission until the day they close down the Irish operation in Syria.
An Irish Army logistician moves pallets at the Irish base in The Golan. Niall O'Connor / The Journal
Niall O'Connor / The Journal / The Journal
There is a need to seek authorisation from the Syrian and Lebanese Governments to allow the convoys pass through their countries – the equipment will include weapons and ammunition.
The two men will go home with the rest of 68 Infantry Group but a team from Ireland, known as J4 Logistics Group from Dublin, will arrive to manage the security and loading of the equipment which will include 12 MOWAG armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles.
Donnelly said that each individual shipment must have manifests for not just individual containers but also individual boxes within those containers and in minute and accurate detail.
It is understood that much of the equipment will then form part of the mission of the European Battlegroup which Ireland will begin participating in in 2025.
The Battlegroup is a concept developed by the European Union in which member states provide military units to respond to crises – it will be managed by Germany with Ireland providing elements.
Donnelly said: “I am in logistics since 2013 and have been on five trips overseas in this capacity and this is the best thing I’ve ever experience wise for the simple reasons that we were able to come up with the plan, implement it and see it work.”
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
'She must go': Debate continues on motion of confidence in Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy
29 mins ago
9.6k
48
Berlin
Germany seeking to deport two Irish citizens for taking part in pro-Palestine protests
11 mins ago
358
embezzlement trial
Marine Le Pen attacks five-year ban from running for office as 'political decision'
20 hrs ago
40.4k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 161 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 143 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 113 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 134 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say