An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May / June 2024 www.military.ie/magazine 12 | U NIFIL has been described as the last great United Nations Peackeeping Mission and it is the mission with which the Defence Forces has had its longest association. Starting with the UNOGIL observer mission in 1958 and later with the deployment of an Irish battalion to UNIFIL from 1978, South Lebanon has been the focus for the vast majority of operations for the Army and for other components of the Defence Forces for some 45 years. Taking our inspiration from the men and women who have served as peacekeepers before us, we continued this tradition as the 123rd Infantry Battalion. The sequence of that numbering is indeed interesting in itself. Starting off from the 31 battalions Ireland had during the Second World War era, the 32nd battalion – our very first overseas unit – deployed to the Congo in 1960. Our unit designation therefore places us directly as successors of those soldiers, some 91 battalions later. That tradition is also traced back in our families and in our home units through service in Cyprus, Lebanon, Somalia, Kosovo, East Timor, Liberia, Chad, Syria and many other places. UNIFIL's only Multinational Battalion The Irish Battalion in Lebanon comprises some 330 soldiers (including nine personnel from the Armed Forces of Malta) and together with over 220 Polish and Hungarian soldiers, it makes up the Irish-Polish Battalion. Centred on the local municipal capital of Bint Jubayl – known locally as 'the Capital of the Resistance' – the Area of Operations (AO) is approximately 150 square kilometres. The AO is several kilometres farther south than the AO familiar to those who may have served in the 'old Leb' (or UNIFIL I), with the town of Tebnine (Tibnin) now falling just outside the northern boundary of our AO. As a multinational battalion, the unit is unique in UNIFIL, in that it features four troop contributing nations (TCNs), all of whom are also EU members. Interestingly, although two of the TCNs are NATO members and two are not, interoperability, cohesion and the adoption of a standard set of tactics, technique and procedures was achieved early on through collective training, sporting competitions and a deliberate policy of mixing the staffs in various cells at Battalion HQ. As the lead nation, Ireland has responsibility for heading up most of the battalion staff, for the provision of real life support (water, medical, power, workshops etc) and for the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) – a battalion mobile reserve in Mowag APCs on ten minutes' notice to move, 24/7. Into the breach The UNIFIL mission was fundamentally changed last October as a consequence of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Many of us will remember exactly where we were when the Hamas attacks were carried out against Israel on 7th October 2023. These attacks, the abduction of Israeli hostages and the subsequent Israeli invasion of the Palestinian territory in Gaza have resulted in a tragic toll of human suffering, which continues at time of writing. This regional situation, exacerbated by increased tensions between Israel and Iran, has in turn been directly reflected in the conflict across the Blue Line in South Lebanon, creating a new paradigm for UNIFIL and for the Irish-Polish Battalion in Lebanon. The conflict here has seen daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli Defence Forces and Non State Actors, most often the Iranian-backed militant group Hizbullah, with widespread use of artillery; tank rounds; mortars; rockets; machinegun fire and targeted airstrikes from fast air jets and drones. When we conducted our form-up in the Glen of Imaal, where the majority of us assembled together for pre-deployment training in the rain and the fog, few of us could have predicted just how busy and operationally focussed the tour would be. The 123 Infantry Battalion would undergo ARTICLE BY LT COL STEPHEN MACEOIN PHOTOS BY CAPT EAMON HENNESSY 123 Inf Bn Medal Parade with explosions ongoing in the background A TOUR LESS ORDINARY THE 123 INF BN IN UNIFIL Recent media visit to troops in UNIFIL mission DF members building vital relationships with the local community as part of CIMIC

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