The commanding officer of Irish troops in Lebanon, tasked with peacekeeping the border region with Israel, has said there is "no chance" of the soldiers being withdrawn from the area despite the recent upsurge in attacks.
Lieutenant Colonel Cathal Keohane, commanding officer of the 122nd Infantry Battalion, said that "there is an awful lot of disinformation" on social media in relation to the future of the deployment.
Speaking on RTE's Six One, he said: "There is absolutely no chance that we are withdrawing. We are here to achieve the mission and we remain until the mission is achieved."
The Irish personnel are serving as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Lt Col Keohane said: "The unit is well prepared. We are well trained for our mission and we remain committed to achieving that mission - which is to monitor the situation in the first instance, to support the local population and, if the need arises, to protect civilians who may be in danger."
Today has been "relatively calm", he said, but it has been "quite volatile for the past number of days" and there have been a number of casualties.
"Unfortunately this is a circumstance that is very familiar to the people of Lebanon and to previous generations of Irish soldiers," he added.
Lt Col Keohane said that "the context" of the situation has changed, requiring changes in operations.
"Certain tasks have been increased such as our patrols, which have increased to prevent further escalation of the situation.
"Other aspects of our normal routine business have decreased or paused. For example, our interaction with the local population has decreased … because many of them have left the area for their own protection.
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"Within that context, however, there are some people who remain in the area and just today we got additional funds from Defence Forces headquarters which will use to buy essential supplies for the people who are left in the area, with a particular focus on women and children."
'Range' of measures to keep soldiers safe
Asked about the safety and security of Irish soldiers in Lebanon, Lt Col Keohane said: "We’re soldiers … we accept that there are situations that we will face which require resilience and which will be adverse. We train very hard to mitigate those risks.
"We've a range of equipment that protects us - for example when we're on patrol we have armoured vehicles which are very effective.
"When we're in the camp, we've access to a bunker system, again, which is very effective.
Lt Col Keohane also praised the personnel under his command.
"The character of Irish soldiers and the quality of Irish soldiers – there are no one else in the world that you would prefer to face difficult situations with.
"The lads here, the people here, are performing to the highest standards and their families and the country should be proud."
In relation to the deployment of the next battalion of Irish troops - due to take place next month - Lt Col Keohane said the situation is "evolving" but he believed that would happen as planned.
"At the start of our journey, when we came together - we started training together back in March - we made a commitment that we would at the end of the day meet each other in Dublin Airport, shake each other's hands and wish each other Happy Christmas. We remain committed to that as we are to the mission."
