A plan has been drawn up to evacuate seven Maltese soldiers stationed in Lebanon close to the Israeli border after the war in the region dramatically intensified on Tuesday, when Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.
The soldiers, who voluntarily signed up for the six-month peacekeeping mission, are safe and are being constantly monitored, but an evacuation plan has been prepared in case the conflict intensifies, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told Times of Malta Wednesday.
"We are following what is happening in Lebanon and are very concerned with the situation. We are in contact with the soldiers daily and are continuously assessing the situation to ensure they are safe," he said.
"We have also drawn an evacuation plan with the Irish authorities in case we are forced to get the soldiers out of there and take them to a secure place before bringing them back to Malta."
The Maltese soldiers would be evacuated with their Irish counterparts, he added. Malta and Ireland are both neutral countries.
The operation is not part of a war, he insisted, but a United Nations peacekeeping mission. Malta takes no part in war missions but constantly works for peace through its diplomatic efforts and the AFM.
"We are committed to protecting our citizens," he said.
"They applied to go there voluntarily and I admire their will and the role they serve there, but we will continue to support them in every way possible, even in case they need to be evacuated."
7 kilometres from Israeli border
The Maltese soldiers are stationed in Lebanon, around seven kilometres from the Israeli border as part of a broader international effort aimed at maintaining stability in a region marked by conflict.
There are seven of them, and a further two are currently on leave.
It is a UN peacekeeping mission known as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), that has around 10,500 peacekeepers from 50 contributing countries.
The Maltese soldiers are in Camp Shamrock, alongside Irish, Polish and Hungarian troops.
Speaking to Times of Malta last week the soldiers said they remain steadfast in their commitment to completing their tour of duty, despite rising tensions in the region.
But since then the situation escalated dramatically after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel Tuesday night.
The attack was in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel.
Israel intercepted most of the missiles and pledged to immediately strike "the Middle East powerfully".
On Wednesday afternoon, Israel announced the death of a soldier killed as Israel and Hezbollah flighters clashed on the ground in Lebanon.
Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22, was killed "during combat in Lebanon", the Israeli military said, without providing any other details.
Earlier Hezbollah claimed that it had inflicted casualties on Israeli troops it engaged in Maroun al-Ras, a Lebanese village in the south of the country which is opposite Avivim and Yir’on in Israel.