Irish peacekeepers attacked in southern Lebanon

Botrys

A fight broke out between locals and a UNIFIL irish patrol in southern Lebanon

locals claim that the troops were taking photographs or 'installing cameras'

While i don't personally buy stories coming form the hezbollah crowd in southern Lebanon

This is the second time something like this happens this year

few months ago the exact same happened while 'Irish troops were taking photographs' somewhere else

unfortunately i can't post links

lbcgroup.tv/news/d/lebanon-news/623193/a-fight-breaks-out-between-irish-unifil-troops-and/en

Larbre34

That may be the narrative, but the Irish contingent do not use Mercedes Steyr light armoured vehicles in Lebanon and that is what is being set upon in those clips.

UNIFIL is made up of 46 nations and those vehicles are of the Finnish contingent.

Jim2007

And what is your point exactly? Peace keeping is not without risk and local flare ups happen all the time. On a slow news day they reported other times they are ignored.

The Irish peacekeepers have no buisness being there.but are told to be there.

Botrys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363022#Comment_118363022

you could be right,

but that’s what was reported

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363328#Comment_118363328

I am right and other outlets are reporting the incident with more accuracy.

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363149#Comment_118363149

You don't think civilian populations should receive UN mandated protection in some of the World's trouble spots?

Botrys

Delete

Botrys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363065#Comment_118363065

do i really need to have a point ? :)

but since you insist

just an opinion,

Hezbollah is rumoured/known to have arms depots stashed around residential areas in southern Lebanon

After the port explosion last year, a couple of buildings blew up kinda mysteriously and the whole thing got quickly covered up and was barely reported.

Now i do believe they do store arms in residential areas

So if the UNIFIL is tasked to locate depots, i really can’t but wish them to be safe

If you got any friends there give them a call :)

Montage of Feck

The UN should have left the christian militia in charge and fecked off, but it's probably too late as Lebanon is now a proxy state of Hezbollah/Iran.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363457#Comment_118363457

Your point is what? You don’t sign up and serve because it is a quite save job. It is a dangerous job that needs to be done and while you hope it won’t be you, you are well aware of the risk involved and yes I have served in my day, not there but elsewhere.

You want them there, you don’t want them there, you think they need to be better supported ? What is your point…

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363149#Comment_118363149

I thing you’ll that a lot ordinary people are very thankful that sleep in peace at night. But course as long as you alright….

Botrys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118364031#Comment_118364031

Know that unifil presence in Lebanon makes absolutely no difference

these troops are being put in unnecessary danger and please don’t tell me they sign up to go there ‘because the job needs to be done’, they go there for the pay

almost every day there are drones and israeli planes flying in Lebanese airspace

in 2019 Hezbollah launched an operation inside Israel

Hezbollah produces and stores weapons in residential areas, i’m still waiting for the day when unifil uncovers one

if a war is to break out tomorrow it’ll happen without hesitation

if a truce or treaty is to be negotiated it’ll be done through the americans

there are negotiations going on right now between the Lebanese state and Israel over the maritime borders and it was the americans who brokered it

The UN got absolutely no effect over the situation in southern Lebanon

even the locals delegated their protection to Hezbollah, the same locals who rejected and attacked the patrol

which brings me to my point

why are the Unifil there ?

what’s their purpose ?

What’s ‘the job that needs to be done’

Sono Topolino

In light of recent events I'm inclined to agree - the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was established in 1978. That's a pretty long time for an "interim" force.

It's clear from the attack on Seán Rooney that the locals do not want the UN there, and consider them little more than Israeli collaborators. This accusation may even be true, as UNIFIL's mandate recently has been to stymie Hezbollah's power in southern Lebanon. This seems a lot like doing Israel's dirty work, and little wonder Hezbollah is not impressed.

Ireland should recognise that this mission has long exceeded its original mandate and leave before more soldiers die for a cause they do not understand.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363473#Comment_118363473

The Christians lost and Lebanon today is much deeper in the hands of Hezbollah than even a short few years ago.

It's little more than an Iranian asset at this stage.

Sono Topolino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120004925#Comment_120004925

If that's the political orientation that the Lebanese want, that's their business. Likewise, if Israel has a problem with this then it has diplomatic means at its disposal to deal with it. UNIFIL is an artefact of the 1970s that should be allowed to die.

BalcombeSt4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363437#Comment_118363437

Yea, I do, but it seems very selective who is "protected".

Why aren't the Arab Muslims & Christians in the West Bank receiving protection along with their fellow countrymen & women in Gaza?

There could be no excuse for the native Mayan population not being protected in Guatemala, soon after the United Fruit Company backed coup in 1954 the Mayans became targets of the far-right death squads & the campaign against them peaked in the early 80s with General Montt in charge, in total over 160,000 Mayans were killed and about 15,000 - 20,000 others being disappeared.

Same next door in El Salvador where 75% of the population lived in poverty & the Catholic church came under attack from US-trained death squads because the Jesuit priests adopted the radical approach of the gospels pre-Rome & adopting the "preferential option for the poor"