TWO hundred Irish soldiers leave today for Lebanon and an equal number who have endured the recent violence in the south will come home on the return flight.
The soldiers who have been coping with the effect of Israel's "Operation Grapes of Wrath" are carrying out the Unifil mandate under UN Security Resolution 425 - to provide security for the local civilian population while overseeing an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the reestablishment of Lebanese authority in the area. Throughout its existence, Unifil has been consistently ignored or harried by the Israeli military and the local "de facto" forces.
The recent bombardment of southern Lebanon has made the battalion rotation a particularly difficult period for the soldiers and their families in Ireland. Receptions and parties have had to be delayed and there was understandable concern for the soldiers' safety.
Although the Irish Battalion area is right in the centre of the Israeli onslaught in south Lebanon, the worst civilian casualties of the latest bombardment have been to the north and west.
The soldiers themselves are said to be in good spirits. Despite prolonged periods in bomb proof shelters - and the proximity of some of the shell impacts, they have been able to give considerable humanitarian assistance to the people who were unable to flee the bombardment.
The entire Unifil force was shocked and angry at the shelling of the Fijian Battalion headquarters at Qana, where 102 civilians, mostly women and children, died after Israeli shelling on Thursday The Israeli claim that they were aiming at Hizbullah members who fired Katyusha rockets from a site 300 metres from the Fiji base was seen as a virtual admission that the base was always within killing range. It was also pointed out that the makeshift Katyusha ("Little Kate") rockets used by the Hizbullah were unlikely to have sufficient range to reach Israel from Qana. So far, there have been no fatalities in Israel as a result of the Hizbullah attacks.
By the middle of last week, the Irish UN soldiers began moving from their bases in south Lebanon to other UNIFIL bases and to Tyre and Beirut to collect food and medical supplies for the thousands of people, who simply did not have the transport or money to flee north.
When the exchanges of shelling subsided the soldiers distributed the aid to outlying villages in their area of operations. This activity, one officer said, is of great psychological benefit to the soldiers, who feel they have an important role in protecting and helping the people of the area.
The Irish medical team which went to assist at Qana was back in the Irish Battalion area yesterday helping local people.
There is now a severe shortage of food and other supplies in the area because of the massive population displacement. An estimated 400,000 people fled from the bombardment to the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Irish Battalion has withstood previous and worse conflict in the area. It remained on duty throughout the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, when there were thousands of casualties and during the Lebanese civil war up to the mid 1980s, which resulted in tens of thousands of casualties.
The battalion also withstood the August 1993 Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon. That resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths and led to 250,000 people fleeing north. After that bombardment sympathy for the Hizbullah in south Lebanon grew significantly.
During the 1993 bombardment, called Operation Accountability by the Israelis, and the latest bombardment, the Irish UN troops consistently remained at their posts, carrying out their duties of observing and logging all firing in the area.
Aside from the Irish Battalion headquarters outside the town of Tibnin, there are some smaller Irish camps and several observation posts in an area about 10 kilometres square. The Irish posts overlook the interface between the Israeli occupied zone along the Israel Lebanon border and from these most of the monitoring of fire takes place. In the latest bombardment the Irish posts have escaped largely unscathed. In 1993, during the Operation Accountability bombardment, one Irish camp and some of the posts were hit by shellfire, and the battalion was lucky to escape with only some minor injuries.
When and if a ceasefire is established in the area the Irish and other UN battalions - the Ghanaians, Norwegians, Fijians, Nepalese and Poles - will have a very accurate picture of the number and type of ordnance exchanged during the past 10 days.
This will include a list of the "firings close", the term for incidents where shells land or where Hizbullah rockets are launched close to UN bases.
The Irish Battalion has suffered 14 losses in action during its 18 year presence in the area. The last Irish fatalities were in the 1980s. Seven of the Irish soldiers were killed by Israeli fire and seven by other fictions including the pro Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA), Amal and Hizbullah.