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A good article from a UN magazine.
Irish peacekeepers are back to a southern welcome
Many southerners have a good reason to smile. Irish peacekeepers are back.
“We welcome the Irish army’s return to Lebanon”, the billboard read at the entrance to Tibnin, telling of the views of many in this southern Lebanese town.
Mansour Mansour, a store owner, put up the billboard in gratitude to the Irish peacekeepers who saved his father’s life on Christmas night 1980 after their house was hit by a bomb in the village of Hadatha.
“The Irish helped my father and gave him medical treatment,” he said, adding that the wounded man was evacuated by helicopter by a Captain named O’Brien. A blood transfusion kept him alive until he reached hospital, where he was treated for more than 40 days.
The relationship between the Irish contingent of UNIFIL and the people of southern Lebanon dates back to the early days when the peacekeeping force deployed to the area in 1978. The troops lived through the good and bad with the people and lost 47 members in the line of duty in the service of peace.
Now this close relationship, interrupted by the withdrawal of the contingent years ago
but continuously nurtured in the minds and thoughts of southerners like Mansour, is
being revived.
Ali Dakik, another Tibnin store owner whose hope that the Irish would return to the same area had come true, now has an opportunity to again greet his old Irish friends and meet the new ones. In his words, the Irish peacekeepers became part of the family. It is incomplete without them.
“The relationship with the Irish battalion went beyond just a relationship between members of the United Nations and the locals,” Dakik recalled of the past years. “There are some Irish soldiers who got married to Lebanese women. They worked on the ground, they visited the people and the villages. These are things that reflected positively on the relationship between the Irish and the civilians.”
Ireland was one of the first contributors to UNIFIL, providing troops since its onset. They remained deployed during some of the worst periods of conflict in southern Lebanon and faced hard times along with the population. The troops were withdrawn in 2001 and returned in 2007-2008 before being withdrawn again. Irish officers, however, continued to serve at UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura.
About 450 Irish troops deployed in June 2011, with their headquarters at Tibnin – a base befittingly named Camp Shamrock, after the three-leafed symbol of Ireland. They have since also taken up posts along the Blue Line.
In one of their first acts, and in a tribute to the past and their belonging to south Lebanon, on Wednesday 6 July the Irish peacekeepers held a memorial to remember fallen comrades. A Mass was held, a bagpiper played somber music as officers laid a wreath and troops saluted at the Tibnin memorial that is dedicated to the 47 Irish peacekeepers who died in southern Lebanon.
Two days later, the Irish Battalion welcomed at its Camp Shamrock UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas.
“The contributions of Irish peacekeepers to UNIFIL go back to 1978, as old as UNIFIL. They have lost brave soldiers in the service of peace in this dear land. I am proud to have you here,” Major-General Asarta said.
For his part, Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Bolger, the Commanding Officer of the Irish Battalion, said: "It is of vital importance that we work in close cooperation and coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces for the implementation of UNIFIL's mandate and tomaintain peace and security in the south."
The people of Tibnin have painful stories to tell during the years of conflict but fond memories of how the Irish handled it.
Dakik remembers how in 1986 Irish peacekeepers saved a wounded civilian from certain death in nearby Hariss village. “Because of the blood that was donated by the Irish he survived and he is still alive to this moment.”
Mohammad Fawaz, head of an orphanage in the town, recalled how the Irish peacekeepers entertained children “who were young and afraid” because of the conflict and did not leave them. “Such things can never be forgotten, of course.”
The Irish soldiers who have served before don’t see much in change in the southerner’s hospitality these days _ “Still warm as ever”, as Petty officer Robbie Doyle put it. But it was noticeable for them the stability and economic development the country has witnessed over the years.
“Everywhere you go the Lebanese Army is around, they have the checkpoints and so on. That tells me that normality is coming back to the south of Lebanon, that Lebanese Army can take over and we will go home in due course,” Sergeant Tony Grehan said.
For Sergeant-Major Noel O’Callaghan most felt is the improvement in infrastructure. “It gives me a great hope that UNIFIL has made a great difference here, that I had made a difference.”
Rania Bdeir UNIFIL Public Information
Many southerners have a good reason to smile. Irish peacekeepers are back.
“We welcome the Irish army’s return to Lebanon”, the billboard read at the entrance to Tibnin, telling of the views of many in this southern Lebanese town.
Mansour Mansour, a store owner, put up the billboard in gratitude to the Irish peacekeepers who saved his father’s life on Christmas night 1980 after their house was hit by a bomb in the village of Hadatha.
“The Irish helped my father and gave him medical treatment,” he said, adding that the wounded man was evacuated by helicopter by a Captain named O’Brien. A blood transfusion kept him alive until he reached hospital, where he was treated for more than 40 days.
The relationship between the Irish contingent of UNIFIL and the people of southern Lebanon dates back to the early days when the peacekeeping force deployed to the area in 1978. The troops lived through the good and bad with the people and lost 47 members in the line of duty in the service of peace.
Now this close relationship, interrupted by the withdrawal of the contingent years ago
but continuously nurtured in the minds and thoughts of southerners like Mansour, is
being revived.
Ali Dakik, another Tibnin store owner whose hope that the Irish would return to the same area had come true, now has an opportunity to again greet his old Irish friends and meet the new ones. In his words, the Irish peacekeepers became part of the family. It is incomplete without them.
“The relationship with the Irish battalion went beyond just a relationship between members of the United Nations and the locals,” Dakik recalled of the past years. “There are some Irish soldiers who got married to Lebanese women. They worked on the ground, they visited the people and the villages. These are things that reflected positively on the relationship between the Irish and the civilians.”
Ireland was one of the first contributors to UNIFIL, providing troops since its onset. They remained deployed during some of the worst periods of conflict in southern Lebanon and faced hard times along with the population. The troops were withdrawn in 2001 and returned in 2007-2008 before being withdrawn again. Irish officers, however, continued to serve at UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura.
About 450 Irish troops deployed in June 2011, with their headquarters at Tibnin – a base befittingly named Camp Shamrock, after the three-leafed symbol of Ireland. They have since also taken up posts along the Blue Line.
In one of their first acts, and in a tribute to the past and their belonging to south Lebanon, on Wednesday 6 July the Irish peacekeepers held a memorial to remember fallen comrades. A Mass was held, a bagpiper played somber music as officers laid a wreath and troops saluted at the Tibnin memorial that is dedicated to the 47 Irish peacekeepers who died in southern Lebanon.
Two days later, the Irish Battalion welcomed at its Camp Shamrock UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas.
“The contributions of Irish peacekeepers to UNIFIL go back to 1978, as old as UNIFIL. They have lost brave soldiers in the service of peace in this dear land. I am proud to have you here,” Major-General Asarta said.
For his part, Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Bolger, the Commanding Officer of the Irish Battalion, said: "It is of vital importance that we work in close cooperation and coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces for the implementation of UNIFIL's mandate and tomaintain peace and security in the south."
The people of Tibnin have painful stories to tell during the years of conflict but fond memories of how the Irish handled it.
Dakik remembers how in 1986 Irish peacekeepers saved a wounded civilian from certain death in nearby Hariss village. “Because of the blood that was donated by the Irish he survived and he is still alive to this moment.”
Mohammad Fawaz, head of an orphanage in the town, recalled how the Irish peacekeepers entertained children “who were young and afraid” because of the conflict and did not leave them. “Such things can never be forgotten, of course.”
The Irish soldiers who have served before don’t see much in change in the southerner’s hospitality these days _ “Still warm as ever”, as Petty officer Robbie Doyle put it. But it was noticeable for them the stability and economic development the country has witnessed over the years.
“Everywhere you go the Lebanese Army is around, they have the checkpoints and so on. That tells me that normality is coming back to the south of Lebanon, that Lebanese Army can take over and we will go home in due course,” Sergeant Tony Grehan said.
For Sergeant-Major Noel O’Callaghan most felt is the improvement in infrastructure. “It gives me a great hope that UNIFIL has made a great difference here, that I had made a difference.”
Rania Bdeir UNIFIL Public Information
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