Stall of duty..

Irish soldiers tasked with protecting delicate ceasefire | Troops build relationships with locals on market visit

- MICHAEL O'TOOLE

ISRAEL once failed to conquer this town with 5,000 heavily armed paratroopers - but a dozen unarmed Irish soldiers won it over yesterday in a hearts and minds campaign.

These exclusive Mirror photographs of members of Ireland's 122 Infantry Battalion strolling through the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil early yesterday showed a softer side of their vital peacekeeping mission in the area.

The 338-strong battalion, part of the United Nations peace force in southern Lebanon, plays a vital role in protecting a delicate ceasefire in the area following a bloody war in 2006 between Israel and Shia Islamic military and political organisation Hezbollah.

That war left 1500 people dead and the Irish battalion, along with more than 200 soldiers from Poland, Hungary and Malta, constantly patrols a large swathe of land right up to the so-called Blue Line, a de facto frontier between the two countries.