Car bomb kills 6 UN peacekeeping soldiers in S. Lebanon

Dave!

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2473539920070624?feedType=RSS

3 Spanish and 3 Colombian, all serving in the Spanish army.

No Irish lads hurt thankfully. But hopefully this will serve to remind everybody of the dangerous nature of the job.

Tragic. RIP.

UNIFIL has suffered 266 fatalities since it was set up in 1978.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Yea, been thinking about it all evening.

I've been in Lebanon when lads were killed, it sucks man. it fvcking sucks big time.

OS119

DaveMcG wrote:

hopefully this will serve to remind everybody of the dangerous nature of the job./QUOTE]

hopefully this will begin to focus minds on the changing nature of the perception of PK ops.

peacekeeping ops, whether UN, EU or NATO, are no longer likely to be seen by protagonists as being neutral, often because they aren't. in the 'old days' the UN couldn't get any agreement on an authorising resolution until the battles were over, usually because the US and USSR we backing one side or other and therefore neither side would want a UN force mucking up their proxy's chances of outright victory. only when the war had been won (by anybody) would it be in either of the powers interest to get a UN force into a conflict area, usually just to supervise the implementation of whatevever deal had been done.

now however, with less 'proxy' fighting being done by UNSC P5 members, resolutions authorising UN/EUNATO forces to intervene during, rather than just clean up after, conflicts are much more likely, and so it more likely that those forces will be taking a side - in Lebanon its the side of the Lebanese govt, the mission is to ensure the soveriegnty of the Lebanese government in its own land, which by definition is 'anti' Hezbollah and all the other groups who act against the stated requirments of the Lebanese state.

ergo, Troops sent on UN/EU missions are more likely to be regarded as protagonists than they were in the old days. therefore those troops need to be more secure against attack.

if people are 'at war' with you - and i would suggest that a car bomb is a reasonably good indicator of that state - then you need to act and be equipped for that state of war.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Just got this photo of the medivac. Included in the photo is at least one Irish soldier..

Judt

That really does suck. Let's just hope that the hairies don't take to IED's and car bombs as a regular thing.

Mick86

Mairt wrote:

Yea, been thinking about it all evening.

I've been in Lebanon when lads were killed, it sucks man. it fvcking sucks big time.

Me too. Hope this one was a one-off.