Should it become essential to evacuate persons from Lebanon, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has stated that Ireland will work with other European nations in coordinating the evacuation, reports Breaking News.
He said on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that there is a consular team in Beirut that has “a civilian evacuation team in place.”
Irish soldiers working with Unifil will stay in Lebanon, Mr. Martin continued.
“Obviously, different scenarios are examined and reviewed on an ongoing basis by the Unifil command. And when I was in United Nations last week, I spoke to Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the undersecretary for peacekeeping, to tease through all of potential scenarios. But remember, right now, movement across Lebanon would be highly dangerous,” reports Breaking News.
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“So our soldiers are safe. I’ve just spoken to the chief of staff who is in constant contact with the commanders there, and they have bunkered down any time there have been various bombings or attacks coming across into Lebanon. And so force protection is the number one priority. Supplies had been sent in well in advance of all of this. And so I think that the fundamental point for those listening and particularly the families listening, is that our soldiers are safe,” he said, reports Breaking News.
“They are professional. It is a very challenging environment. It is a very difficult environment. Any sort of unilateral move by any individual contingent on Unifil is clearly not an option. We want de-escalation. I think we’ve seen in other conflicts around the world in the past where unilaterally sudden exodus of United Nations peacekeepers can lead to a far more deteriorating situation for the civilian population in given areas. So this is not a simple sort of sort of equation whereby you just pack up and move out in the context of hostilities of this sort. It is very, very challenging. It’s a dangerous environment. And we have professional soldiers who have been trained for situations like this. They are safe,” he added, reports Breaking News.
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