Under the remarkable protocol which governs some - but not all - of the fighting here in south Lebanon, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) yesterday afternoon issued a "shell warning" for the vicinity of the Irish UN Battalion's B Company in the village of Haddatah. The Israelis generally observe the rules of actually letting the UN know the grid co-ordinates of its targets and timing of its attacks.
Yesterday afternoon's shelling went almost as normal, with two artillery shells landing on a hillside above the village of Haddatah. White smoke could be seen rising from the impact points of the shells. Then, in only a very slight breach of the protocol, two further shells landed just outside the 15-minute warning period. It was a very minor incident and within 30 minutes women and children were again walking along the roadside around the village and the soldiers in B company Headquarters, right in the midst of the village, returned to their normal routines.
On Thursday evening there had been a potentially serious incident in which mortars were fired by the Islamic guerrillas from the Hizbullah, apparently mistakenly targeting an Irish UN post above Haddatah. Three 120mm mortar rounds landed in close proximity to the lookout post perched on the rocky hill known as Hill 880, simply because its summit is 880 metres above sea level.
The incident is referred to as a "firing close" as, Comdt Brian Lenihan, the commander of B Company pointed out, almost casually, the rounds are landing within what is known as the killing range of the mortar shrapnel.
This is entirely normal routine for Comdt Lenihan and his 117 troops drawn from Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny, Kildare and Clare and the villagers in whose midst they are soldiering.
Haddatah is on the front line of what, in military terms, is known as the "low intensity" war between Israel and Islamic guerrillas in and around the zone occupied by the Israeli Defence Forces in south Lebanon. B company is one of two "forward companies" serving with the Irish UN Battalion in south Lebanon.
In real terms, for the soldiers and inhabitants of the village, it is life right on the edge of safety. All the houses in the village have mass concrete walls. Every wall facing south towards the Israeli gun positions is pock-marked with shell and shrapnel marks. Many of the houses have subterranean bunkers.
On Sunday, February 7th, at about 6.50 a.m. the potential for death and serious injury manifested itself quite sharply when, in the space of a few minutes, nine mortar shells landed in and around the Irish camp and the gardens and pathways of the surrounding houses.
One shell landed on the flat concrete roof of the house used as B Company's headquarters. Cpl Noel Walsh, an experienced soldier from Kilrush, Co Clare, with 15 years' service in the Army but on only his first visit to Lebanon, was descending from the lookout post, raised about eight feet off the roof, when the 120mm mortar shell struck a sandbagged emplacement a few feet in front of him. He was struck in the calf, thigh and hand by shards of shrapnel. Had he descended a few feet further, he would have been cut in pieces by the larger shrapnel pieces which cut into the roof and parapet, puncturing concrete and the metal staircase he was standing on.
He was thrown backwards into the lookout post and lost consciousness. "I don't remember much about it," he observed yesterday. "The sandbags took most of the blast. If it had hit the concrete roof I wouldn't be here. The shrapnel would have sprayed all round."
Beneath him on the ground Pte John Flaherty, also from Kilrush, and on his second tour in Lebanon, was running from his sleeping quarters to the bunker beneath the building when the concrete blocks and sandbags from the roof fell on top of him. "My head and shoulders and back took most of it. I remember running from the guardroom and then the place went completely back. I was dazed and had to pull the blocks and stuff off me and dragged myself along to the bunker."
Both men were airlifted to the UN hospital on the coast at Naqoura where they were able to telephone their families and reassure them. They were discharged two weeks ago and are back on duty in Haddatah.
Senior UN officers here foresee no let-up in the armed aggression in the region.
The title of the multinational UN force in Lebanon - UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon - seems entirely at variance with the realities on the ground, where the antagonists show no sign of letting up and the UN is daily strengthening its posts and barracks to protect its personnel.
The Irish troops, whose work is often overlooked or lost in the bad publicity pertaining to the hearing compensation issue at home, continue to feel unappreciated. As Cpl Walsh said: "People don't know what goes on here. It is no holiday. This is no holiday camp."
An Israeli colonel suggested yesterday that the military should target leaders of Hizbullah yo avenge the death of General Erez Gerstein, Israel's top general in occupied south Lebanon. Col Eyal Shlein was speaking on Israeli television.