{"id":277951,"date":"2026-02-03T04:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/277951\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:31:10","slug":"defence-forces-condemns-israeli-chemical-drop-in-southern-lebanon-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/277951\/","title":{"rendered":"Defence Forces condemns Israeli chemical drop in southern Lebanon \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Defence Forces<\/a> has condemned an aerial drop of unidentified chemicals by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over areas of the \u201cBlue Line\u201d that separates southern Lebanon<\/a> from Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Personnel from the UN<\/a> Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were forced to cancel activities in the area, including security patrols, while the chemicals were dropped from the skies. Though the IDF claimed the substances were non-toxic, it also warned Unifil that its troops should stay clear of the area and take cover.<\/p>\n

Ireland has more than 350 troops serving on the multinational Unifil deployment in south Lebanon. Although they were not adversely impacted by the chemical drop, the Defence Forces has voiced its concern about the IDF operation in the area on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Defence Forces said it joined Unifil in \u201ccondemning any violation of airspace or conducting of activities which prevent Unifil personnel from carrying out their duties\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IDF activity, yesterday, did not take place in the Irish area of operations,\u201d it added in reply to queries. \u201cThere was no effect on Irish personnel and the 127th Infantry Battalion continued to conduct all framework operations in support of the Unifil mandate.\u201c<\/p>\n

Unifil said it was informed on Sunday morning by the IDF it would be engaged in aerial activity involving \u201cdropping what they said was a non-toxic chemical substance\u201d over areas near the Blue Line. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeacekeepers could not perform normal operations near the Blue Line along about a third of its length and were only able to resume normal activities after over nine hours,\u201d said Unifil, adding its personnel supported the Lebanese Armed Forces in collecting samples to be tested for toxicity.<\/p>\n

The activity was \u201cunacceptable\u201d, Unifil said, adding the IDF\u2019s \u201cdeliberate and planned actions not only limited peacekeepers\u2019 ability to undertake their mandated activities\u201d but also potentially put their health and that of civilians at risk. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt also raised concerns about the effects of this unknown chemical on local agricultural lands, and how this might impact the return of civilians to their homes and livelihoods in the long term. This is not the first time that the IDF has dropped unknown chemical substances from airplanes over Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gaza. The Dream and the Nightmare: Learning more about this enclave\u2019s past and presentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It reminded the IDF that flights by their aircraft into Lebanon represent \u201cviolations\u201d of Unifil\u2019s mission which potentially puts peacekeepers and civilians at risk. It called on the IDF to end the activities.<\/p>\n

There are about 360 Irish troops serving with Unifil at present, most of whom have been in Lebanon since last November on a six-month mission. They are based at Camp Shamrock \u2013 also known as UN base UNP 2-45 \u2013 near the town of Bint Jbeil and approximately 7km from the \u201cBlue Line\u201d border with Israel. <\/p>\n

The Unifil mission the Irish are part of is an operation dating back to 1978 that keeps the peace between Israel and Hizbullah militants in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Netanyahu vows to disarm Hamas as Israel buries last captive recoveredOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Defence Forces has condemned an aerial drop of unidentified chemicals by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13308,42,3410,14396,43,40,38,41,39,23242],"class_list":{"0":"post-277951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-defence-forces","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-lebanon","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories","17":"tag-united-nations-un"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}