Irish troops safe after rocket hits Lebanon camp

Hundreds of Irish troops are taking part in a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon

All Irish soldiers are "safe and well" after a rocket struck their UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon on Thursday morning, the Taoiseach (Irish PM) Simon Harris has said.

Hundreds of Irish peacekeepers are headquartered at a base known as Camp Shamrock in southern Lebanon, about 7 km (4 miles) from the border with Israel.

The Irish Defence Forces say all personnel have been accounted for and all are uninjured after the rocket, thought to match Hezbollah equipment.

The Chief of Staff for the Irish Defence Forces, Lt Gen Sean Clancy, confirmed that the rocket fell inside the camp.

He said it caused "minimal, minimal damage" on the ground of an "unoccupied area".

There are almost 300 Irish peacekeepers currently deployed in Lebanon

In a statement, the Irish Defence Forces said they "understand that news of this incident may cause concern among the families of our deployed personnel".

They added that they want to assure them that "comprehensive force protection measures are in place at our facilities in Lebanon".

"These measures have proven effective in ensuring the safety of our personnel during this event, and we are continuously working to mitigate any risk to our personnel," they said.

The statement added that the defence forces were "working closely with our international partners to gather additional information and evaluate any potential future risks".

Unpredictable rockets

The Republic of Ireland is one of 50 countries which has supplied troops to the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (Unifil) international peacekeeping mission.

Speaking in Athlone, Lt Gen Clancy said the device which struck Camp Shamrock on Wednesday was a "Katyusha rocket".

"This was by an armed element, obviously. It was - our assessment - travelling from north to south into Israel," he said.

"A lot of these are undirected, unguided and therefore unpredictable rockets."

Lt Gen Sean Clancy explained such rockets "have been known to fall" but added that the Irish Defence Forces have not yet assessed if the rocket fell or was "taken down".

Hezbollah is known to use Katyusha rockets and in August the group confirmed it had fired hundreds of Katyusha rockets and drones towards Israel.

A convoy of UN vehicles recently stationed at an entrance to Camp Shamrock

'Challenging environment'

Ireland is one of 50 countries providing troops to Unifil

The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the rocket strike on Camp Shamrock "illustrates the risks" Irish peacekeepers face in Lebanon, adding "there’s no hiding from that fact".

"We are in a very challenging environment and that is why force protection is extremely important," Mr Martin said.

“That is why we are pushing very strongly for a de-escalation in the region.

"That is absolutely essential for the people of the region and also for the country, for the world."