The Irish Air Corps successfully carried out a mission to Beirut this week, deploying an Airbus C295 (IRL286) transport aircraft to extract Defence Forces engineers caught in the escalating conflict in southern Lebanon. The mission, which unfolded on Thursday, 27th March, is considered one of the first Irish wartime resupply and extraction flights into the region in recent years.
Departing from Dublin, the C295 made several stops en route before landing in Beirut on Thursday afternoon. It departed Larnaca Airport in Cyprus for Beirut at around 12:15z. The aircraft remained on the ground for just 90 minutes before arriving back at Larnaca at 14:45z. The tightly controlled turnaround was designed to minimise exposure in a city that has faced near‑daily bombardment since the outbreak of hostilities between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah.
The mission had a dual purpose: to deliver senior Irish military leadership personnel to UN positions in Lebanon, and to extract a specialist team of Irish Army engineers who had been unable to leave the country since the IDF launched its incursion across the Blue Line earlier in the month. The extraction required a heavily armed Irish convoy to navigate a coastal route south of Beirut, an area severely affected by bombed infrastructure, active fighting, and intermittent Israeli airstrikes.
Planning for the convoy’s movements was described as “hugely complex”, involving coordination between the Department of Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and international partners. High‑level discussions with Israeli authorities ensured a degree of “deconfliction” to prevent the Irish vehicles from being mistakenly targeted during their transit.
Despite the volatile environment, the convoy successfully reached the extraction point, and the engineers boarded the waiting C295 for the return journey. The aircraft departed Beirut safely, marking the completion of another significant overseas operation by the Irish Air Corps.
This mission further highlights the growing strategic value of the Air Corps’ modernised C295 fleet, which has dramatically expanded Ireland’s capacity for independent evacuation, humanitarian support, and military transport operations abroad.
