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LAST UPDATE | 21 Jun
IRISH PEACEKEEPERS AT Camp Shamrock in Lebanon had to take cover this morning after Israeli strikes hit the region.
Israel’s military said it targeted sites connected to militant group Hezbollah in the south of the country this morning, approximately 50 kilometres from Camp Shamrock.
A spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces said as a precautionary procedure, force protection measures were taken at the UN peacekeeping base. All Irish personnel are safe and accounted for, they added.
Junior Fianna Fáil minister Niamh Smyth confirmed on RTÉ Radio One today that peacekeepers had to take cover. It comes as staff at Ireland’s embassy in Iran, which supports Hezbollah, have been moved.
Israeli ministers this week voiced concern over a potential attack by Hezbollah in south Lebanon as PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government carries out a missile campaign on Iran, sparking concern among regional leaders.
Israel’s strikes breached a November 2024 ceasefire aimed to end hostilities between with Hezbollah, which sparked months of deadly conflict. The military said the site it targeted was used by the group “to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians”.
Roughly 29 Irish citizens and a number of dependents are in Iran, Smyth said. Approximately 200 Irish citizens are in Israel also. All have been offered and are welcome to seek assistance to return to Ireland should they wish to.
Staff, however, are currently working remotely as attending the embassy in Iran is no longer considered safe. Strikes by Israel have fallen locally in recent weeks.
Israel targeted two centrifuge production sites in Iran overnight during a second wave of strikes on the location since the start of the war. Centrifuge production capabilities can assist in the production of nuclear weapons.
Israel’s first strikes on Iran on 13 June – an unprovoked attack over unproven claims by the Israeli government that Iran was weeks away from developing an atomic weapon – had struck the same facility.
It also targeted Iran’s two main underground nuclear sites, Natanz and Fordo, overnight.
Turkish and Saudi ministers have told reporters that they seek to avoid a prolonged conflict and have urged this morning for the war to be settled through diplomacy. Hours of talks yesterday failed to reach a diplomatic breakthrough.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the summit in Istanbul.
At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group who cautions that the figure may be higher.
Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel’s air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.
- with reporting by Press Association and © AFP 2025
© AFP 202
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