UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirms Israeli army left the position near to UN post 6-52, where Irish peacekeepers are stationedIsrael announces new ground operations for Lebanon and says replacement Hezbollah chief likely deadFamilies of Irish soldiers express concern for safetyIran warns Israel against new attacksUN urges diplomatic solution
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed this evening that the Israeli army left its position near to UN post 6-52, where Irish peacekeepers are stationed in Lebanon.
“Yesterday, I had a chance to speak with your prime minister,” Antonio Guterres told RTÉ News, “and after that, I did a number of démarches with different entities, and I can now tell you that those Israeli tanks and other armed elements that were around the 6-52 position have left.”
“I strongly appeal, strongly appeal to both parties to fully respect the safety and security of UNIFIL,” he added.
A spokesperson for UNIFIL in Lebanon confirmed that the IDF had left the position.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin also confirmed the news as he paid tribute “to our personnel who continue to serve with distinction in the interests of peace”.
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It comes as a spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces confirmed that all Irish troops remain “accounted for and well”, in an update on the ongoing situation in Lebanon.
The 124 Infantry Battalion remain “vigilant” and have reported no significant changes to their operational environment at this time as Israel expanded its ground assault in the southwest of Lebanon today.
“They continue to monitor and report violations of UNSCR 1701 by all parties, independently and impartially,” a Defence Forces spokesperson added.
“Defence Forces Headquarters remain in regular contact with our leadership and UNIFIL HQ on the ground, getting updates on the ongoing situation in our three mission areas (UNDOF, UNTSO and UNIFIL). The safety and security of our personnel stationed in the region remains of paramount concern to the General Staff, and we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the families and friends of our personnel for their steadfast support throughout this deployment.”
Israel’s military said on Tuesday it had begun ground operations in southwest Lebanon, expanding its invasion to a new zone a year after exchanges of fire began with armed group Hezbollah and amid pleas by the UN for a diplomatic solution.
The mother of one Irish soldier stationed in Lebanon expressed concern for his safety as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) cross the country’s southern border as part of their ground incursion against Hezbollah and dug in next to an Irish UNIFIL outpost.
Lauren, the mother of an Irish soldier located at UN Post 6-52 as part of UNIFIL’s mission, spoke to Joe Duffy on RTÉ’s Liveline regarding her son and his fellow soldiers’ safety in Lebanon.
“This isn’t just mammies crying on the radio. We know what is going on. The IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] has no intention of leaving. UNIFIL’s mission is based on the premise that both sides will hold a ceasefire and that they won’t cross the border [into Lebanon]. The IDF have not been doing this and have been firing over the border,” she said.
She said her son and others stationed in Lebanon were locked down with supplies of food limited and no access to wifi, unable to go about their normal patrols.
Duffy pressed Lauren on the concern of reputational damage to the Irish army if they pulled out from the outpost. “This to me is not the Irish army, this is UNIFIL”, she said. The mother suggested that the Tánaiste and Government “need to open their eyes” as neither “the IDF, Hezbollah, Hamas or the IDF can not be trusted”. She also said that the IDF have “killed thousands of people and they don’t care what they are doing”.
She also said she is concerned that because the IDF has asked UNIFIL to move out of its outpost that if a soldier is injured by the Israeli forces there will be no accountability as Irish troops were issued with a warning.
Another woman, a family member of a Jadotville and middle eastern veteran, spoke on Liveline regarding the situation. “However upset [the family members] are, we also should respect the wishes and self respect of these trained professional soldiers before calling for their withdrawal,” she said.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon has said the party has received phone calls from families of Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon who want to know that there is a clear extraction plan if needed.
He added that the Taoiseach’s visit to the US has taken on greater significance because of the situation the Irish troops are in so close to the front line between Lebanon and Israel.
“The Taoiseach’s job as he goes to the US today is very clear. He must be absolutely firm in his condemnation of Israel’s breaking of the UN security council resolution 1701. He must be calling for America, as a permanent member of the UN security council to use all and any influence they have to push Israel back,” Deputy Gannon said
“The extent of phone calls we are having from family members of those serving overseas, who are putting themselves in harms way in the name of peace, as we have done for over 50 years now, there is a huge level of worry.
“We need to be exerting any and all kind of influence and that’s the responsibility that now falls on the Taoiseach’s shoulders.”
Mr Gannon added that families wanted to know if the state has an extraction plan if things go wrong.
“I appreciate that there are operational sensitivities. I’m not looking for the plan, we just want to know there is one,” he said.
Ceasefire
Hezbollah left the door open to a negotiated ceasefire on Tuesday after Israeli forces made new incursions in Lebanon, and Israel’s defence minister said another senior official from the Iran-backed group appeared to have been killed.
In what could be the latest in a series of major blows to Hezbollah, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said it appeared the replacement for slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had been “eliminated”.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official, was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah. Safieddine has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli airstrike late last week.
“Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” Gallant told officers at the Israeli military’s northern command centre, in a brief video segment distributed by the military.
“There’s no one to make decisions, no one to act,” he said, without providing further details.
In a televised speech, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem, said he supported attempts to secure a truce, and for the first time did not mention the end of war in Gaza as a pre-condition to halting combat on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Qassem said Hezbollah supported attempts by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to secure a halt to fighting, which has escalated in recent weeks with the Israeli ground incursions and the killing of top Hezbollah leaders.
“We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire,” Qassem said in his 30-minute televised address.
It was not clear whether this signalled any change in stance, after a year in which the group has said it is fighting in support of the Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and would not stop without a ceasefire there.
Speaking in front of curtains from an undisclosed location, Qassem said the conflict with Israel was a war about who cries first, and Hezbollah would not cry first. The group’s capabilities were intact despite “painful blows” from Israel.
“We are striking them. We are hurting them and we will prolong the time. Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance’s missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are fine,” said Qassem.
His televised address comes 11 days after the killing of Nasrallah, the most devastating setback Israel has dealt its foe in decades. Qassem said the group would elect a new secretary general and announce it once it has been done.
Israel kept up the pressure on Hezbollah on Tuesday by killing another one of its senior figures and launching new operations in southern Lebanon.
Qassem said Israel had yet to advance after ground clashes that broke out in south Lebanon a week ago.
“In any case, after the issue of a ceasefire takes shape, and once diplomacy can achieve it, all of the other details can be discussed and decisions can be taken,” Qassem said.
“If the enemy (Israel) continues its war, then the battlefield will decide.”
The regional tensions triggered a year ago by Palestinian armed group Hamas’ attack on southern Israel have spiralled in recent weeks into a series of Israeli operations by land and air against Lebanon. On Oct. 1, Iran, sponsor of both Hezbollah and Hamas, fired missiles at Israel.
Warning from Iran
Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against any retliatory attacks. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said any attack on Iran’s infrastructure will be met with retaliation.
Araqchi will visit Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East starting on Tuesday. In a video on state media he said the aim of his trip was discuss ways “to prevent the shameless crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon in continuation of the crimes in Gaza”.
Sources have told Reuters that Gulf Arab states have sought to reassure Tehran of their neutrality in the conflict.
On the ground, the area of Israeli operations in Lebanon has been expanding. The Israeli military said it was conducting “limited, localised, targeted operations” in Lebanon’s southwest, having previously announced such operations in the southeast. A World Food Programme official voiced concern about Lebanon’s food supply, saying thousands of hectares of farmland across the country’s south has burned or been abandoned.
“Agriculture-wise, food production-wise, (there is) extraordinary concern for Lebanon’s ability to continue to feed itself,” Matthew Hollingworth, WFP country director in Lebanon, told a Geneva press briefing, adding that harvests will not occur and produce is rotting in fields.
World Health Organization official Ian Clarke in Beirut told the same briefing that there was a much higher risk of disease outbreaks among Lebanon’s displaced population.
Israel’s military struck Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight again and said it had killed a figure responsible for Hezbollah’s budgeting and logistics, Suhail Hussein Husseini, in what would be the latest in a string of Israeli assassinations of leaders and commanders of Hezbollah and Hamas.
Many Israelis have regained confidence in their long-vaunted military and intelligence after deadly blows in recent weeks to the command structure of Hezbollah.
The situation in Lebanon is getting worse by the day, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told the European Parliament, calling for a ceasefire. Some 20% of the Lebanese population had been forced to move, he said.
