{"id":125639,"date":"2025-10-16T10:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T10:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/125639\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T10:48:10","slug":"we-were-raised-up-with-the-irish-since-1978-and-suddenly-they-are-pulling-out-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/125639\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We were raised up with the Irish since 1978, and suddenly they are pulling out\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents of south Lebanon<\/a> are deeply concerned that the planned withdrawal of Irish peacekeepers will trigger increased Israeli aggression, a senior Irish officer has said.<\/p>\n

Lieut Col Edward McDonagh, commanding officer of the Defence Forces peacekeeping battalion assigned to Unifil <\/a>in Lebanon, said he has met the mayors of all 14 villages in the Irish area of operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same message I\u2019m getting from all of them: they are concerned. They\u2019re worried that when Unifil go, this will embolden the [Israel Defense Forces<\/a>] to act even further.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Israeli forces were already violating the existing ceasefire on a daily basis. Locals believe this will only accelerate when peacekeepers leave in a year.<\/p>\n

Residents have seen the devastation in Gaza<\/a> and are worried that, with the ceasefire there, Israel<\/a> may conduct similar operations in Lebanon, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the uncertainty and the fear that I have been told by the local population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khalil El Debek, the mayor of the town of Kounine in the Irish sector, said there would be \u201cno peace\u201d in southern Lebanon after Irish troops departed next year. He said the local people considered Irish soldiers, who have served with Unifil since 1978, to be part of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are sad and will not accept withdrawal,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cPeople are very worried, not only about the Irish leaving, but the whole Unifil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LebanonLebanon mayor of Kounine Khalil El Debek notes the sites of recent air attacks by Israel. Photograph: Conor Gallagher <\/p>\n

He pointed out the sites of recent air attacks by Israel conducted during its war against Hizbullah<\/a>. These included a mosque and several family homes, which were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Recently erected Hizbullah flags, along with posters of its fighters killed in the war, are visible throughout the town.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s invasion of Lebanon ended last November, but it is continuing to mount air strikes in the region. El Debek said about 150 families were still waiting to return to Kounine.<\/p>\n

The Republic of Ireland contributes 333 peacekeepers to Unifil, by far its largest overseas contribution. Last month, the UN Security Council, under pressure from Israel and the United States<\/a>, approved a motion to begin winding down the mission next year.<\/p>\n

Asked how locals would be affected by the move, El Debek said there would be \u201cno peace\u201d and that people would leave the region \u201cbecause it will affect them socially and economically. Most of the people consider the withdrawal of Unifil will be the beginning of another war\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israeli forces have recently stepped up drone strikes on construction equipment in the Irish area. Officials believe this is an effort to prevent the rebuilding of homes and create a buffer zone on Israel\u2019s northern border.<\/p>\n

The presence of Unifil troops protecting building workers has done little to deter these attacks. Earlier this month, an Israeli drone dropped two stun grenades 500m from Irish troops, who were protecting a reconstruction team. No one was injured.<\/p>\n

Throughout much of Wednesday afternoon, an Israeli surveillance drone hovered over the Irish base during a visit by Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieut Gen Rossa Mulcahy.<\/p>\n

\"CampCamp Shamrock in Lebanon. Photograph: Conor Gallagher <\/p>\n

Locals are also concerned about the impact the withdrawal of the 10,000 Unifil troops will have on the economy in the area. Many businesses and shops rely on the peacekeeping mission, including a line of shops just outside the main Irish camp. These are run by the so-called mingy men, Irish Army slang for street traders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all disappointed and sad. We were raised up with the Irish since 1978 and suddenly they are pulling out,\u201d shop owner Ali Mohammad Dikik said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen the Irish giving blood for people who are injured and saving their life, in my village.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are worried. There will be no witnesses and our neighbours can do whatever they want without any witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LebanonLebanon shopkeeper Ali Mohammad Dikik: ‘If they give me a chance to open a shop in Ireland, it would be an honour.’ Photograph: Conor Gallagher <\/p>\n

Dikik has been selling goods to Irish troops since the 1980s, including souvenirs, small fridges and engagement rings. He said the business had allowed him to buy a big house.<\/p>\n

When a large proportion of Irish forces were temporarily withdrawn from Unifil in 2008 and redeployed to African peacekeeping missions, Dikik packed up his shop and relocated with them. \u201cI went to west Africa. I went to Eritrea and Liberia.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is not sure if he would relocate his shop to Ireland when the troops pull out in 2026. \u201cThere are a lot of taxes there. But if they give me a chance to open a shop in Ireland, it would be an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents of south Lebanon are deeply concerned that the planned withdrawal of Irish peacekeepers will trigger increased Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,9217,13,14,3761,6,21029,71,6220,11,12,14407,15,16,5,7,8,18176,384,2863,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-125639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-defence-forces","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-gaza-strip","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-hizbullah","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-israel-defence-forces","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-lebanon","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories","26":"tag-unifil","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-united-nations-un","29":"tag-world","30":"tag-world-news","31":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}