Irish troops report being observed in Lebanon amid ‘aggressive postures' by Israeli army
The
Defence Forces
are 'aware of a number of reported incidents of aggressive postures' adopted by the
Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) in
Lebanon
in recent days, but said all Irish personnel are safe and well.
Irish soldiers reported being observed while on patrol as part of the
UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(Unifil) on Tuesday night. This incident occurred near Maroun Ar-Ras and involved members of the 125th Infantry Battalion who were working alongside the Lebanese Armed Forces.
'The Irish personnel noted the presence of a laser light near their position; this frequently indicates that they were being observed using an optical sight which includes a laser light module,' a spokesperson for the Defence Forces said.
'Such laser lights are not generally harmful; however, their use is unwelcome and was reported by patrol. It is understood that this incident was protested by Unifil.'
READ MORE
No injuries to any UN personnel have been reported and all Irish personnel are 'safe and well', the spokesperson added.
'Our soldiers continue to operate effectively and are committed to their important role to provide stability and act as an independent observer in the region.'
The Irish peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, first established in 1978,
is to be extended for another year
, Tánaiste Simon Harris confirmed on Tuesday. At present Ireland has 340 members of the 125th Infantry Battalion deployed in the country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Unifil said it is 'concerned by the recent aggressive posture' of the IDF.
In one incident on Tuesday, peacekeepers observed two shots being fired from south of the Blue Line – a UN-mapped demarcation separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – with one of them hitting the Unifil base near the village of Kfar Shouba.
Unifil said this incident was the first of its kind since Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group
Hizbullah
agreed to a ceasefire on November 27th. Since then Unifil said it has observed at least four other incidents involving IDF fire near its positions along the Blue Line.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the incident.
'In recent days, Unifil has also observed other aggressive behaviour by the IDF towards peacekeepers performing operational activities in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701,' a spokesperson for Unifil said, referring to a UN resolution originally adopted in 2006 to end hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah.
Any unauthorised crossing of the Blue Line by land or air from any side constitutes a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
In another incident south of Alma ash-Shaab on May 7th, laser beams were pointed towards a Unifil patrol from two IDF Merkava tanks. As the patrol began to move, a drone flew approximately five metres above it, following the patrol for about a kilometre, Unifil said in a statement.
Separately, on the same day, an aerial vehicle repeatedly flew over a Unifil position east of Houla, the statement added. – Additional reporting Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
38 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Tough decisions to tackle housing crisis are under way – but will they work?
The expected move to ease rent caps is part of a Government response to the worsening housing crisis which will see further policy changes announced in the coming weeks, before a revised plan for housing is finalised in July. Government insiders hope that the departures will show them finally getting to grips with the housing crisis. But it would be an exaggeration to say there is confidence that all this will work quickly to increase housing supply. Meanwhile, opposition to the rent cap changes is growing and will be heard both in the Dáil tomorrow and on the streets next week when Raise the Roof, an umbrella group co-ordinated by the trade unions and including NGOs and Opposition parties, holds a major protest outside Leinster House. The housing measures include some already announced and some yet to come. There will be changes in planning regulations to allow small residences in back gardens, extensions and attic conversion s without planning permission; potentially also changes in regulations on apartment construction; the role of the Land Development Agency will be expanded to include mixed-use developments with private sector partners; the appointment of a 'housing tsar' ( just don't call it that ) is also coming; commencing the changes in last year's mammoth planning Act will make it harder to block planning permissions; and money will be provided for new planners in local authorities and An Bord Pleanála to speed up the planning process. READ MORE [ Explainer: Garden rooms and attics – What are the proposed changes to regulations? Opens in new window ] Divisions remain in Government over the possibility of tax incentives for builders and developers of certain types of housing, and they are unlikely to be settled until the budget. But at the top level of Government, there is a growing sense that urgent action is needed on housing, with one insider insisting that the series of decisions now under way will place housing at the very centre of the Government's priorities from now until the summer recess in mid-July. However, there is also an awareness that some measures to increase supply will leave the Coalition open to political attack and public unpopularity. [ Proposed changes to rent rules will incentivise evictions, housing charity warns Opens in new window ] And the problem for the Government is that the unpopularity and the political attacks will be immediate – but any potential payback from the measures in the shape of increased supply is at best years away, and may not even be felt until after the next general election. Even without the planning delays and legal actions that they have to factor into their considerations, builders and developers say it can still take three to four years to deliver a block of apartments. There is no doubt the measures will be welcomed by developers and landlords. But that is not necessarily the same thing as prompting them to move quickly to increase supply. Many will want to see if tax incentives are introduced in the budget; others will want to see if the Government has the political will to resist the pressure already building on the rent pressure zone changes. 'Look, the reality is there is no silver bullet,' says one senior Government source. But, the source says, we need apartments, and the people who build apartments are not building them right now because of the rent caps. [ Rules for renters: What are the planned reforms and will they work? Opens in new window ] All very well, but the simple and logical outcome of changing the rent cap rules is that rents will go up – that's why the landlords and the developers are in favour of it. The Government says that its package will protect renters – but among groups working at the coalface of homelessness, there is little confidence in that. An uptick in evictions and rising rents – both predicted by Opposition parties – would pile enormous pressure on the Government. Within Government, there is an undoubted willingness to take difficult decisions, and an awareness that the time to take them is in the first year of its term of office. But that is not matched by any great confidence that the measures will work. [ Ireland's housing crisis: Why is there such a shortage of homes to buy and rent here? Opens in new window ]
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Iran to present counterproposal to US in nuclear talks
Iran will soon hand a counterproposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, the Iranian foreign ministry said on Monday, in response to a US offer that Tehran deems 'unacceptable' . Iran also called on the international community to force nuclear disarmament upon Israel , Iran's long-standing foe, which Tehran says is trying to thwart the nuclear negotiations. 'The US proposal is not acceptable to us. It was not the result of previous rounds of negotiations. We will present our own proposal to the other side via Oman after it is finalised. This proposal is reasonable, logical, and balanced,' Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said. 'We must ensure before the lifting of sanctions that Iran will effectively benefit economically and that its banking and trade relations with other countries will return to normal.' READ MORE It was previously reported that Tehran was drafting a negative response to the US proposal, which was presented in late May. An Iranian diplomat said the US offer failed to resolve differences over uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, the shipment abroad of Iran's entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium and reliable steps to lift US sanctions. [ Trump tells Iran sanctions will remain until it ends nuclear programme Opens in new window ] Mr Baghaei said there was not yet any detail on the timing of a sixth round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington. Last week, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the US proposal as against Iran's interests , pledging to continue enrichment on Iranian soil, which western powers view as a potential pathway to building nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. During his first term in 2018, US president Donald Trump ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Iran responded by escalating enrichment far beyond that pact's limits. [ Trump pulls US out of landmark Iran nuclear deal Opens in new window ] Iran says the West has turned a blind eye to Israel's nuclear programme even while pushing against Iran's. Israel neither confirms nor denies that it has nuclear weapons. Mr Baghaei said sensitive Israeli documents, which Iran has previously promised to unveil, would demonstrate 'that parties constantly questioning Iran's peaceful nuclear programme actively work to strengthen Israel's military nuclear programme'. The negotiating parties should not allow Israel to disrupt diplomatic processes, he said. – Reuters
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Ray Burke on how the books of almost every Irish writer of note were banned in the last century
President Michael D. Higgins told a gathering of librarians that he was hosting at a Bloomsday Garden Party at Áras an Uachtaráin last June about a visit he made to the public library in Galway shortly after he moved there more than 60 years ago to work for the Electricity Supply Board before enrolling at the local university. Having climbed the stairs to the library (housed at that time in Galway's 19th century county courthouse) he asked if he could borrow the book 'Why I Am Not a Christian' by the British philosopher and Nobel Literature Laureate Bertrand Russell. He said that the librarian told him: 'I cannot give you that book'. He said that when he asked her why not, she replied: 'Because it would not be good for you'. The impromptu denial suffered by the future President of Ireland was possible under the Censorship of Publications Acts that dated back to 1929 and that prohibited the importation into Ireland of more than 12,000 publications, mainly books or magazines, that were deemed by State-appointed censorship boards to be 'indecent or obscene' and likely 'to corrupt or deprave'. READ MORE Almost every Irish writer of note had their books banned under the acts during the last century, irrespective of their international renown. Brendan Behan used to quip that in Ireland he was 'the leader of the banned'. Edna O'Brien had hardback first editions of her early novels confiscated by customs officers at Dublin Airport in 1966 when she arrived from London to attend a debate on censorship. Galway libraries had been banning books even before the Censorship Acts came into force. 'Every effort has been made by the committee to ensure that no books of an objectionable nature should be allowed to circulate', the minutes of the first meeting of the Galway County Council Libraries Committee in May 1926 state. At the same meeting, the committee – successor to the County Galway Carnegie Libraries – approved a report from the chief librarian that said: 'No little difficulty has been experienced in book selection, particularly in dealing with works of fiction as the general tendency in recent years of authors has lain more in the realm of sex, psychoanalysis, and other objectionable studies totally extraneous to any story'. In February 1927, the committee resolved that copies of all books recommended for purchase be supplied 'to each member of the committee, the [Catholic] Archbishop of Tuam, and the Bishop of Galway'. Two months later it invited the two bishops to submit lists of books for purchase. An early-1950s annual meeting of the committee noted: 'It was proposed by county councillor Tom King, seconded by Tadg O'Shea, and resolved that printed slips be inserted in every book issued at headquarters, branches and centres, asking readers to draw the attention of the county librarian 'to any objectionable book' and that lists of books for purchase be submitted to the book selection sub-committtee (which included a number of Catholic priests). This may explain how Tom Kenny, of Kennys Bookshop in Galway, came into possession of a rare copy of James Joyce's 'Ulysses. 'It was a surprise some years ago when we bought an elderly local priest's library to discover a two-volume paperback set of Ulysses' by James Joyce which was published by the Odyssey Press. We got an even bigger shock when we opened the flyleaf and discovered the signature ` + M. Browne 1938′ – Cross Michael himself, the bishop', Tom has recalled. An earlier, even-rarer copy of Ulysses had been censored by immolation in Galway shortly after its publication in 1922. Joyce sent a first edition to another Galway bookseller, Frank O'Gorman, in whose printing works Joyce's partner and future wife, Nora Barnacle, may have worked occasional, casual shifts. It was inscribed 'To Frank, with best wishes, Nora and Jim', but Frank O'Gorman's mother promptly burned it. Her grandson Ronnie, a respected local historian and founder of the Galway Advertiser freesheet, last year donated his collection of rare and valuable books to the University of Galway shortly before his death after an illness. It included an expensively acquired first edition of Ulysses and also a limited first edition of the book with illustrations by the French artist Henri Matisse, signed by both the artist and by Joyce. A few months before Ronnie O'Gorman's death, the then minister for justice, Helen McEntee, announced, in November 2023, that she had obtained government approval to repeal the Censorship of Publications Acts. She acknowledged that censorship boards 'are of limited relevance in a modern society'.
