 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2009) |
Force Mobile Reserve (FMR) was a multi-national, mechanized, high-readiness military reserve force, established in 1987, and able to react to incidents anywhere in the United Nations Interim Force in the Lebanon (UNIFIL) area of operations. [1]
In 1986 the armed wing of the Shiite Amal movement clashed gravely with French UNIFIL forces. It became apparent that UNIFIL could no longer continue peacekeeping along the same path. Hence the decision was taken to redeploy about half the French battalion to UNIFIL headquarters at Naqoura to operate as the Force's mobile reserve. [2]
On June 1, 1987, Force Mobile Reserve was established, composed of soldiers from each of the contributing contingents of UNIFIL. The deployment came with a mission to demonstrate an international willingness to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent UNIFIL from discharging its duties. FMR was via UNIFIL Force Commander placed under direct orders from the Secretary-General. [3]
FMR reinforced UNIFIL's battalions when serious incidents occurred and during rotations. In February 1988 FMR was equipped with Sisu Pasi XA-180 APCs set with 12.7 / 50 .cal HMG. The FMR was rigidly trained in public order and major incident reaction techniques. In addition the FMR also trained for air mobile operations using Bell 212 helicopters to rapidly insert into trouble areas. [4]
In contrast to the merely military duties of FMR came the rescue operation of civilians following the Israel Defense Forces IDF Qana shelling during the IDF Operation Grapes of Wrath in the 1996 Lebanon war. [5]
The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First Lebanon War, and known in Lebanon as "the invasion", began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invaded southern Lebanon, after repeated attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operating in southern Lebanon and the IDF that had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The military operation was launched after gunmen from Abu Nidal's organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin blamed Abu Nidal's enemy, the PLO, for the incident, and used the incident as a casus belli for the invasion.
The Irish Army, known simply as the Army, is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Approximately 7,300 people served in the Irish Army on a permanent basis as of May 2016, and there were 1,600 active reservists, divided into two geographically organised brigades. As well as maintaining its primary roles of defending the State and internal security within the State, since 1958 the Army has had a continuous presence in peacekeeping missions around the world. The Army also participates in the European Union Battlegroups. The Air Corps and Naval Service support the Army in carrying out its roles.
The Qana massacre took place on April 18, 1996, near Qana, a village in Southern Lebanon, when the Israel Defense Forces fired artillery shells at a United Nations compound. The artillery barrage had been launched to cover an Israeli special forces unit commanded by future Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett after it came under mortar fire launched from the vicinity of the compound. Of 800 Lebanese civilians who had taken refuge in the compound, 106 were killed and around 116 injured. Four Fijian United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon soldiers were also seriously injured.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, adopted on 19 March 1978, five days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War, called on Israel to withdraw immediately its forces from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL). It was adopted by 12 votes to none; Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union abstained, and China did not participate.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, is a UN-NATO peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which Israel had invaded five days prior, in order to ensure that the government of Lebanon would restore its effective authority in the area. The 1978 South Lebanon conflict came in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War.
The Blue Line is a Demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel and Lebanon and the Golan Heights published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon. It has been described as: "temporary" and "not a border, but a “line of withdrawal.”".
The 1978 South Lebanon conflict was an invasion by Israel of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978 in response to the Coastal Road massacre. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,100–2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, 20 Israelis, and the internal displacement of 100,000 to 250,000 people in Lebanon. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) forces retreating north of the Litani River. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolutions 425 and 426 on 19 March 1978 calling on Israel to withdraw immediately from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is a United Nations peacekeeping force that was established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 186 in 1964 to prevent a recurrence of fighting following intercommunal violence between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order and to facilitate a return to normal conditions. Major General Ingrid Gjerde is the current Force Commander of UNFICYP, appointed in 2021, and preceded by Cheryl Pearce (Australia). Assistant Police Commissioner Satu Koivu (Finland) is the current Senior Police Adviser appointed in 2021.
Operation Grapes of Wrath, known in Lebanon as the April Aggression, is the sixteen-day campaign of the Israeli Defense Forces against Lebanon in 1996 which attempted to end rocket attacks on Northern Israel by Hezbollah. Israel conducted more than 1,100 air raids and extensive shelling. A UNIFIL compound at Qana was hit when Israeli artillery fired on Hezbollah forces operating nearby. 639 Hezbollah cross-border rocket attacks targeted northern Israel, particularly the town of Kiryat Shemona. Hezbollah forces also participated in numerous engagements with Israeli and South Lebanon Army forces. The conflict was de-escalated on 27 April by a ceasefire agreement banning attacks on civilians.
During the 2006 Lebanon War, a number of international incidents occurred in Lebanon, largely involving United Nations personnel in Lebanon, who have come under a number of attacks. On 25 July 2006, four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers were killed during an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. Israel later stated that the attack was an error due to the incorrect identification of the UN position as a militant enemy post.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is a resolution that was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War.
The 2006 Marjayoun convoy was a convoy of approximately 759 vehicles containing Lebanese police, army, civilians, and one Associated Press journalist, which was attacked by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) as it travelled away from the area of Marjayoun on August 11, 2006. Marjayoun is a predominantly Christian town about 8km from the border with Israel.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 426, adopted on 19 March 1978 at the 2075th meeting of the Security Council, is concerned with both the creation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the duration of its mandate. It comes immediately after and complements Resolution 425, adopted during an earlier meeting on the same day.
The 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash occurred on August 3, 2010, between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Israel Defense Forces (IDF), after an IDF team attempted to cut down a tree on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, near the Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am and the Lebanese village of Adaisseh. A high-ranking IDF officer was killed and another wounded, when LAF snipers opened fire on an Israeli observation post after receiving authorization from senior Lebanese commanders. IDF soldiers returned fire and responded with artillery shelling and airstrikes on Lebanese positions, killing two Lebanese soldiers and Al Akhbar correspondent Assaf Abu Rahhal. and wounding five soldiers and one journalist. This was the most serious escalation on the border since the 2006 Lebanon War.
Dongmyeong Unit is one of the UN Peacekeeping Forces sent to Lebanon by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (ROKA). It was formed on 21 June 2007. The conflict in Lebanon began in 1975, after an outbreak of armed clashes between Christians and the Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli militaries leading into the Lebanese Civil War. To prevent ongoing hostilities, the United Nations passed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions 425 and 426, activating the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). As part of its contribution to UN forces, the Republic of Korea sent the Dongmyeong Unit as a rotational force to Lebanon in July 2007. The Dongmyeong Unit consisted of 300 people, including one battalion of Korean Special Forces and specialist troops filling various roles including engineering, communications, transport, maintenance and medical support.
Michael Beary is a retired Irish Army Major general and former head of mission and force commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Operation Northern Shield was an Israeli military operation that took place from 4 December 2018 until 13 January 2019. The operation’s declared goal was to locate and destroy Hezbollah tunnels that cross the Blue Line from Lebanon into northern Israel. According to Israel, this operation is part of the ongoing Iran–Israel proxy conflict. On 17 December 2018, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) acknowledged the existence of four tunnels near the Israel–Lebanon border, but said "UNIFIL at this stage can confirm that two of the tunnels cross the Blue Line" in violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which helped end the 2006 Lebanon War.
Major General Maureen O'Brien is an Irish Army general and current Deputy Military Advisor in the United Nations Office of Military Affairs, Department of Peace Operations. O'Brien had previously been Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights from September 2019 to March 2021.
The Peacekeeping Unit is a battalion of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Force tasked with peacekeeping missions overseas and assigning personnel contributed by Iran to the United Nations peacekeeping.
The Nabatieh Fawka attack occurred on 16 April 1996, when Israeli warplanes bombed an apartment in Nabatieh Fawka village, killing 9 people, 7 of whom were children.