Film Review: Lebanon

At dawn on 6 June 1982, on what was ironically the 38th anniversary of D-Day, Israeli troops launched an invasion of Lebanon. Israeli F-15 and F-16 jets bombed Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) positions in South Lebanon, and then about 800 tanks and 60,000 infantry went forward in an operation known as Peace for Galilee. There had been tension in the region for many years, and a UN Peacekeeping Force had been inserted along the border, known as UNIFIL. The Irish troops that formed a large contingent of UNIFIL could do nothing but note the registration numbers of the tanks and military vehicles that passed them on their way into Lebanon to destroy the fighters and camps of the PLO.