Irish in Lebanon on alert after bombing

Irish troops in south Lebanon are on high alert this morning following bombing in their neighbouring Ghanaian battalion area yesterday evening.

At 4.55 p.m. Irish time - 6.55 p.m. local time - yesterday an Israeli jet made an aerial bomb attack on targets in the Ghanaian battalion area, which is adjacent to the Irish area in the buffer zone between south Lebanon and Israel.

The one bomb which was dropped landed in a wadi, a dried-up river bed, and resulted in no injuries, although according to a spokesman for the Defence Forces, Capt. Tom Clonan, "the area is tense".

"There has been an increase in military activity over the past two weeks, though this is just in addition to the usual routine shelling with which the troops contend on a daily basis."

The news follows reports yesterday that 600 Irish troops were forced into shelters for 12 hours between Monday night and Tuesday morning as Israeli jets made bombing raids on selected targets in south Lebanon.

Capt. Clonan explained that the companies of the Irish battalion were put on red alert at midnight on Monday following indications from the UN that the Israelis were about to launch retaliatory bomb attacks on selected targets in south Lebanon.

This followed two weeks of heavy Israeli casualties in the area. The Irish companies took cover in shelters during the red alert, which lasted until about 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

There continues to be "quite a lot of shelling," said Capt. Clonan, although he stressed that when Irish troops did take cover "only the non-essential troops go into bunkers. All others, such as those at observation posts, stay at their posts."

About 650 Irish UN peace-keeping troops are stationed in the south Lebanon area.