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Defence forces Deployment to UNDOF

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  • Great news.
    For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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    • It never reflects good on the UN when stuff like this happens.

      https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/...063527249.html

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      • Was it in UNDOF AO?
        For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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        • Originally posted by na grohmiti View Post
          Was it in UNDOF AO?
          The UNDOF AO entends the entire length of the border between Syria and Israel.

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          • Are the Israeli Border Outposts within the UNDOF AO? Genuine question, because the UNDOF AO is quite thin in parts, and the Southern area in particular, where this incident is supposed to have happened. Other reports say it happened on the "Israeli Controlled Golan Heights".
            Also, there is no mention of UNDOF, and Israel would be first to shout about it's failure to deal with Hezballah. Equally UNDOF and the UN have made no mention of the incident.
            For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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            • Originally posted by na grohmiti View Post
              Are the Israeli Border Outposts within the UNDOF AO? Genuine question, because the UNDOF AO is quite thin in parts, and the Southern area in particular, where this incident is supposed to have happened. Other reports say it happened on the "Israeli Controlled Golan Heights".
              Also, there is no mention of UNDOF, and Israel would be first to shout about it's failure to deal with Hezballah. Equally UNDOF and the UN have made no mention of the incident.
              The zone is defined by two line, Alpha and Beta; these are the lines defining the zone of separation which was part of the ceasefire agreement. In that agreement the Israeli forces had to withdraw to behind the Alpha line and not station any large military units with a zone up to 25km from the line. On their side Syria had to do the same, this is why their are also UNTSO also in the area. It is these two opposing forces that UNDOF and the OGG are there to monitor as no-one in 1974 ever thought that there would be a group like Daresh in Syria and that the Syrian government would not have full control of their side of the border.

              The southern part is extremely thin, but the Israelis are not stupid and have their OP's some distance back from the Alpha line. A quick look at the UNDOF deployment map show most of the OP's in the area as unoccupied. But this is no surprise as the primary mission is not border control. Looking at the video it is highly likely that the strike happened between the Alpha line and the Israeli security fence, thus on the Israeli side.

              There is a major difference between the situation on the Golan to that in South Lebanon, and that is Israel has a major advantage with UNDOF in place. It gives them plenty of time to react to any Syrian Army build-up. Little incidents like this are just an excuse to throw some blame at the government of Syria although they know it could do nothing to stop it. As for the UN it cannot sit good knowing that armed group can easily enter and cross an area you control.

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              • For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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                • Youtube version of above
                  For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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                  • Defence Forces contingent deployed to Golan without own medical officer

                    A 130-strong contingent from the 66th Infantry Group in the Defence Forces were deployed to the volatile Golan Heights in early October without their own medical officer, which is believed to be the first time this has occurred, the Medical Independent (MI) understands.

                    In a response last week, the Defence Forces said a medical officer would deploy “imminently”. An advanced paramedic and two combat medical technicians were in the Irish contingent, supported by a designated medical officer in Dublin.

                    The contingent, which is on a six-month tour of duty, have access to a United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) medical facility at their base, according to the spokesperson.

                    The Defence Forces provided no background information as to why a medical officer was not deployed with the contingent. It has been practice to have at least one medical officer in a large body of Defence Forces personnel deploying overseas.

                    The development comes amid ongoing recruitment and retention difficulties in respect of medical officers due largely to a salary scale that is significantly lower than civilian medical practice roles.

                    “The establishment for medical officers is 28. The Defence Forces effective strength is 20.5 doctors,” stated the Defence Forces. It did not provide details on how many medical officers were eligible to deploy overseas. The Defence Forces uses an agency to manage ‘sick parade’ in most barracks.

                    As previously reported by MI, the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) has called for the fixed period promotion term for medical officers to revert to three years in order to enhance recruitment and retention. It has said adjustments to promotion arrangements are required for both direct-entry medical officers and military medicine trainees “so that pay scales remain in line with junior to middle ranking doctors in the HSE”.

                    Standard practice

                    Informed sources told this newspaper there were “obvious” difficulties with relying on other foreign contingents to provide primary care, including communication barriers, different treatment regimens and standards and expectations of care.

                    There could also be medicolegal implications, including difficulties gaining access to medical records held by other national contingents.

                    A deployed medical officer would have a key clinical decision-making role around management of potential medical repatriations in the best interests of Irish soldiers. A medical repatriation has already occurred from the 66th Infantry Group in Golan without a deployed Irish medical officer.

                    The Defence Forces spokesperson said: “This repatriation was conducted in consultation between the designated medical officer in Dublin, the Irish paramedics in UNDOF, while also being supported by UN medical staff in the mission area. This was not a medically urgent repatriation and the soldier in question was flown to Ireland on a normal commercial flight escorted by an Irish medic. There was no requirement for an air ambulance.”

                    MI issued a series of questions to the Department of Defence on the lack of a deployed medical officer, the difficulties in recruiting medical officers, and the future of the military medicine training scheme, but it provided no comment.

                    The Department has not imposed any requirement for Defence Forces medical officers to have specialist registration with the Medical Council which is required in some other State organisations and reflected in the salary. This is a key contributor to poor recruitment and retention in the military medicine training scheme, which provides dual specialty training in general practice and military medicine. The salary scale is also leading to difficulties recruiting direct-entry medical officers and particularly in attracting specialist-trained doctors.

                    UN facility

                    According to the Defence Forces, the 66th Infantry Group is based in Camp Faouar, which has a UNDOF medical facility headed by a “senior medical officer” and staffed by 23 UN healthcare professionals including two general surgeons, an anaesthesiologist and two general physicians (a primary care physician was not listed in the information provided). The facility is staffed by medical officers and staff from the Nepali armed forces.

                    UNDOF’s mandate is to provide a credible presence in the Golan and use its best efforts to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic, according to a Defence Forces briefing note.

                    The first mission for Irish troops in UNDOF commenced in September 2013. UNDOF maintains an area of separation between Israeli Occupied Golan and the Syrian Arab Republic. Camp Faouar is on the Syrian side of the area of separation.

                    The ongoing safety of personnel on the UNDOF peacekeeping mission is of concern to the UN.

                    On 22 September the UN Secretary-General issued his latest UNDOF report in which he expressed particular concern about the safety and security of UNDOF peacekeepers in light of continued violations of the Disengagement of Forces Agreement signed by Israel and Syria in 1974.

                    According to the report: “At a time that remains particularly volatile for the region, I remain concerned about the continued violations of the Disengagement of Forces Agreement during the reporting period, including breaches of the ceasefire on 1, 8 and 15 June and 18 August, which also posed a risk to United Nations personnel.

                    “I call upon the Israel Defense Forces to refrain from firing into the area of separation and across the ceasefire line, as well as crossing the ceasefire line. I also remain concerned by the continued presence of the Syrian armed forces in the area of separation. There should be no military forces or activities in the area of separation other than those of UNDOF.”

                    Overseas missions

                    The Defence Force is currently involved in 11 missions in 12 countries, with 538 personnel serving overseas in those missions.

                    According to its spokesperson: “We have medical personnel in our two largest missions, UNIFIL (Lebanon) and UNDOF (Syria). For the other missions where the Defence Forces have smaller numbers of personnel deployed, medical supports are provided by the mission under a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

                    “These arrangements are in place, work effectively and form part of the pre-planning for any deployment to new missions. This is consistent with how medical care is provided to other foreign contingents.”​

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                    • Originally posted by Rhodes View Post
                      Defence Forces contingent deployed to Golan without own medical officer




                      Was actually shocked when I read this elsewhere earlier. Then again, the story I heard about an MO deployment a couple of weeks ago maybe it's not so surprising..
                      "Well, stone me! We've had cocaine, bribery and Arsenal scoring two goals at home. But just when you thought there were truly no surprises left in football, Vinnie Jones turns out to be an international player!" (Jimmy Greaves)!"

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                      • Russian overflights of Irish in UNDOF

                        IRISH soldiers are being threatened with fearsome Russian “flying tanks” in the Middle East. The Irish Sun has learned a Russian KA-52 Alligator helicopter carried out a fly-over at the Irish UN ca…

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                        • Irish soldiers lead mammoth operation to bring €23m of gear home from Syria in one piece

                          There are around 280,000 individual items that need to be brought home – and each one has to be listed, packed and shipped

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                          PICTURED: L-R : BQMS Colm Donnelly and Captain Andrew O'Neill who are in charge of moving all the Irish gear from Syria to Ireland

                          Two Irish soldiers are spearheading a massive operation to get €23 million worth of Defence Forces gear back from Syria in one piece.

                          The large-scale Irish presence in the war-torn country comes to an end next month – and it is the responsibility of Captain Andrew O’Neill and Battalion Quartermaster Sergeant Colm Donnelly to make sure all usable equipment is sent back to Ireland.

                          That’s everything from €1 million Mowag armoured personnel carriers to nuts and bolts. There are around 280,000 individual items – and each one has to be listed, packed and shipped.​

                          “It is a mammoth task,” Captain O’Neill, from Dublin, told the Irish Sunday Mirror in Camp Faouar, where some 133 members of the Defence Forces’ 68th Infantry Group have been based since last October.

                          The 68th is the 20th Irish contingent to be based at the camp as part of Ireland’s contribution to UNDOF, the United Nations mission that polices a 40-year truce between Israel and Syria. We first sent troops to UNDOF in late 2013 and our soldiers have served more than 2,600 individual tours in the camp in that time.

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ID:	742822PICTURED: Soldiers preparing equipment for shipping back to Ireland from Camp Faouar in Syria

                          But Ireland has now decided to withdraw most of its soldiers from Syria, leaving only a handful of officers as part of the force headquarters – partly because the Defence Forces struggles to fill that and our commitment of 330 troops to UNIFIL, the UN mission in neighbouring Lebanon.

                          Capt O’Neill and BQMS Donnelly, from Co Monaghan, have been working 12-hour shifts for weeks to make sure the logistics operation to ship gear home runs smoothly.

                          Capt O’Neill told us: “It was daunting when we first thought about it. But this isn’t just something that we started a couple of weeks ago – this has been a long drawn process from the very start, when we first got together in our form up back in July.”

                          The officer said the first thing he and BQMS Donnelly did was decide what gear could be sent to help our troops in UNIFIL.

                          A special convoy, including an armoured earthmover, a Mowag APC and three containers of equipment, will leave Faouar today and make the three-hour journey to Ireland’s main UNIFIL camp, called Shamrock, in southern Lebanon.

                          He said: “The first thing we did was look at UNIFIL to see what equipment they needed, especially when it comes to spare parts... For the likes of transport spare parts which are large, heavy at times, costly to ship, it was more beneficial for us to send the stuff from here to there, rather than send it home, for it then to be requisitioned from Lebanon to be sent out again.

                          “We worked with our colleagues over in Lebanon to draw a plan of what they needed – that’s what is going to go in a convoy now on Sunday.”

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ID:	742823PICTURED: L-R : BQMS Colm Donnelly and Captain Andrew O'Neill

                          The Irish soldiers will patrol the UNDOF area in Syria until a date next month – which means the logistics unit cannot pack up any of the vital military equipment they use to defend themselves, including Mowags, .5 heavy machine guns, Steyr assault rifles and ammunition, until the mission comes to an end. He said: “Once we go non-operational, everything can be packed.

                          “Up to that time, you have to have all your equipment for operational purposes, ready to go at all times.

                          “Armed troops need all their equipment, their weapons and night vision equipment – the whole lot.”

                          Capt O’Neill said that every single item – from a bolt to a Mowag – had to be individually itemised, or manifested, to the satisfaction of Syrian and Lebanese authorities before it could complete the journey.

                          “It is a lot of time-consuming paperwork,” he said. “Everything must be customs checked before it goes across – there has been a mammoth amount of work, not just by our little logistics section, but by the entire group.”

                          Meanwhile, although the Irish operation is winding down, the 133 soldiers still have to be fed.

                          Three cooks in the camp – Sergeants Alan Farrell from Dublin and Trevor Moloney from Longford as well as Private James McGlynn from Athlone – cook for the Irish, as well as Indians, Kazakhstanis and other European soldiers.

                          Sgt Farrell said the team usually starts work around 5.30am – and finishes towards 7pm.

                          “It’s a long day,” he said.​
                          There are around 280,000 individual items that need to be brought home – and each one has to be listed, packed and shipped
                          Last edited by Rhodes; 3 March 2024, 20:46.

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