The Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, has said he is marginally more concerned now about the safety of Irish troops in Lebanon than when they were they were redeployed there last October.
Mr O'Dea was speaking after meeting the Lebanese Defence Minister, Elias Murr, in Beirut at the start of a three-day visit to 150 Irish peacekeepers in the country.
Shortly after his arrival Mr O'Dea met his Lebanese counterpart about recent intelligence reports which suggest that fundamentalist groups in a Palestinian refugee camp were planning attacks against UNIFIL peacekeepers.
Following this afternoon's meeting, Mr Murr said the threats have to be taken seriously although he believed such a terrorist attack was not imminent.
Mr O'Dea said the Lebanese internal situation is very fragile, and although the intelligence reports were merely rumours, they concerned people who are linked to Al-Qaeda and have strong associations with Syria.
He said there was a campaign of civil disobedience with the aim of bringing down the current Lebanese administration.
O'Dea raises 1980 cases
Meanwhile, Mr O'Dea said he had asked the Lebanese Minister to prosecute a man currently living in the US who is suspected of involvement in the killing of two Irish soldiers nearly 30 years ago.
Private Thomas Barrett from Cork and Private Derek Smallhorne from Dublin were shot dead in 1980.
However, Minister Murr told Mr O'Dea that the US would first have to denationalise the suspect and then deport him before they could prosecute him in Lebanon.
The Lebanese Minister also told Mr O'Dea that his government has not closed the file on Private Kevin Joyce from the Aran Islands, who was abducted in 1981 but whose body was never found.
Also speaking in Lebanon, The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lt Gen Jim Sreenan, said the situation for Irish peacekeepers in the country has always been difficult.
But he emphasised that there is not a heightened level of threat at the moment. Today's alert status is green, he said, the lowest on the scale.
Irish troops resumed peacekeeping duties in Lebanon at the end of October.
They had previously served there for over two decades but withdrew in 2001 when stability was restored.
After hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah erupted again last summer, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon or UNIFIL mission was expanded and 155 Irish soldiers were deployed.
