Government concerned UNIFIL's Lebanon mandate won't be renewed

RTÉ News​

6 hours ago

There is mounting concern in Government that the United Nation's peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon may not have its mandate renewed in August.
Ireland has participated in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since 1978.
Ireland has an unbroken record with UNIFIL and currently has more than 340 troops stationed in southern Lebanon.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has begun to contact other EU member states about the issue.
He is due to raise it again when he travels to Brussels tomorrow for a Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday.
The UN will review UNIFIL in August, amid concerns that the United States could withdraw financial backing for the operation.
Israel has also been highly critical of the force.
The Tánaiste has already discussed options relating to the future of UNIFIL with the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Lt Gen Rossa Mulcahy.
It is understood Mr Harris will seek to impress upon his EU counterparts on the absolute need for the mission to continue, in order to ensure stability and peace in the region.
It is expected that France will lead the campaign to extend UNIFIL's mandate when it comes to a vote in August.
On 28 August last year, the UN Security Council unanimously passed resolution 2749 extending UNIFIL's mission for 12 months.
However, the upcoming talks will be the first since the cessation of hostilities between Hezbollah, which has a strong base in southern Lebanon, and Israel.
It is also expected that the Lebanese government will strongly support the renewal of the mandate.
The Cabinet backed the Irish Defence Forces' continued participation in UNIFIL last month.
In New York, Israel is said to be lobbying at the UN headquarters for a downgrade of the role of UNIFIL.
The Trump administration is viewed as being sympathetic to that argument, but it is currently unclear what position it will adopt in August.
Last month, Irish soldiers who are serving as peacekeepers in southern Lebanon came under fire near Israel's blueline, while on a joint patrol with the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The UNIFIL Force Commander conveyed the Government's anger and concern at the shooting incident directly to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Mr Harris condemned the incident at the time and said it was an "utterly inappropriate, utterly unacceptable" attack on Irish peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon.
"This is the latest in a range of what I view as intimidatory behaviour by the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] towards peacekeepers, or as we saw recently, Irish diplomats too. So this is not acceptable," Mr Harris said.
The incident took place close to the village of Yaroun and the patrol withdrew from the area when it occurred.
No injuries to personnel on the patrol were reported and no damage reported to the armoured vehicles they were operating from.
The location was roughly 10km from the main Irish military base in Lebanon, known as 2-45 or Camp Shamrock. It was also 5km from an Irish base on the Blue Line, called 6-52.
Also last month, in south Lebanon.