MISSION AMID ISRAELI INVASION

We are going into a complex situation but this is not unheard of in the history of UNIFIL or in Lebanon

- BY MICHAEL O'TOOLE Crime and Defence Editor

MORE than 300 members of the Defence Forces are set to head to war-ravaged Lebanon - right in the middle of an Israeli invasion.

The 128th Infantry Battalion travels to Lebanon in a few weeks to spend six months on a UNIFIL mission there - and their boss has insisted his personnel have the training to deal with whatever happens during their time there.

"Our training is not just built on the last couple of weeks,’ their officer commanding said yesterday.

The unit formed up several weeks ago and was in the middle of training and preparation when Israel launched a large scale invasion of southern Lebanon - and they now occupy many of the 14 towns in the Irish area of responsibility.

That has led to chaotic scenes, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the area and several towns being systematically destroyed by the Israeli army - who have now advanced past the two Irish posts there.

But speaking at the Defence Forces’ training area at the Glen of Imaal, in Co Wicklow, Lieutenant-Colonel Damian Carroll - who will command the 128th Infantry Battalion that is set to spend the next six months in Lebanon on a UNIFIL mission - said his soldiers would be ready for anything.

He said: "Our training is built on the soldiers from when they first enlist, but also on the backs of all the other deployments that have gone before us.