Skibbereen man leads troops in Lebanon

A SKIBBEREEN man is the commanding officer of Irish troops in Lebanon, tasked with peacekeeping the border region with Israel.

Lieutenant Colonel Cathal Keohane said they remain committed to their mission despite the ongoing volatile situation.

Speaking on RTÉ news he said there is ‘no chance’ of the soldiers being withdrawn from the area despite the recent upsurge in attacks. ‘We are here to achieve the mission and we remain until the mission is achieved.’

‘We’re soldiers,’ he said, ‘we accept that there are situations that we will face which require resilience and which will be adverse. ‘We train very hard to mitigate those risks.

‘We’ve a range of equipment that protects us - for example when we’re on patrol we have armoured vehicles which are very effective.

‘When we’re in the camp, we’ve access to a bunker system, again, which is very effective.’

The West Cork man also praised the soldiers under his command.

‘There are no one else in the world that you would prefer to face difficult situations with.’

‘The lads here, the people here, are performing to the highest standards and their families and the country should be proud.’