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The Polish army has been drafted in to back up Irish troops in Lebanon after their peacekeeping partners Finland pulled out.

The UNIFIL mission is Ireland's biggest overseas operation with 450 troops deployed to monitor the contested so-called "Blue Line" between Israel and Lebanon.

The Finnish ended their partnership with the Irish leaving the operation in the lurch - diplomatic meetings took place and the Polish and Hungarians agreed to take over.

It comes just a week after Ireland decided to pull its involvement from the migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean. Minister Paul Kehoe, who has responsibility for defence, said: "The Irish Government warmly welcomes the deployment later this year of the armed forces of the Republic of Poland joining the Irish Battalion in UNIFIL.

“Poland has a long tradition in international crisis management operations and our forces have served alongside each other successfully in other missions over the years".

As the Finnish pulled the cord on their involvement the Irish Defence Forces were forced to send 100 extra troops to the area.

On Friday, Minister Kehoe addressed the UN Defence Ministerial in the General Assembly on Ireland’s 60-year unbroken legacy of peacekeeping and announced a number of further training and development initiatives to support UN Troop contributors, along with funding trainee peacekeepers.

Speaking after he addressed the UN General Assembly, the Minister said: “These high level ministerial meetings at the level of the United Nations are vitally important in furthering the global commitment to peacekeeping and to ensuring we deliver the required supports to Troop Contributing Countries who are the backbone of our peacekeeping missions.

He added: "As long term contributors, Ireland also has a responsibility to support new and emerging troop contributors, particularly from smaller member States. The commitments I outlined at the UN today are key elements of that support”.