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1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
The LAD
only see the tops of our heads in the turrets which contrasted to the lackadai- sical approach of the other forces, who largely sprawled all over their vehicles. The weather was stifling; it was usually 75 degrees by 8am and in the 90s by midday. Added to the discomfort of being in the Ferrets was the Khamsin, which was an exceedingly hot wind. So, sunbathing was really out. But most importantly, the deck of the Ferrets became scorchingly hot.
There is no doubt that the routes were influenced by the locations of the popular eateries, patisseries, ice cream shops and cafés where the patrols would pull up for a break. There, the dusky ladies in tight jeans and red blouses were a welcome distraction. We were always aware that the ladies might be diverting our attention from an attack, made a little more complicated by the fact that the Irish Republican Army was believed to have had a presence there. But the threat never materialised.
The locals were all pretty friendly and we always greeted them with “Marhaba, kifak?” (“Hello, how are you?”) The civilian population often spoke French and or English. The Lebanese Army and Police pretty much spoke only Arabic. Major Stewart used to deal with this the best and was patient trying to explain everything in English and seemed to have a sixth sense about what they were saying. We used to joke that it was because his French was terrible!
The situation in Beirut was confusing. Whilst the arrival of the IDF had pretty much halted the civil war between the Christians and the Muslims, they each
JBH on patrol
attacked the IDF with such frequency that the political will to remain in Lebanon was failing. Furthermore, the firefights between the Druzes and the Christians were gaining in frequency. The multi-na- tional force was supposed to oversee the future withdrawal of the IDF and as the withdrawal approached, so the situ- ation deteriorated further. There were so many different parties and militias that one never knew who they supported or why they were at loggerheads. It was a tug of war between the Christians (with their multiple militias, the largest being the Khatib), the Palestinians, Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Syrians, the Israelis, the Russians, the Americans and of course, the Lebanese Army. It was a mess. Furthermore, there was a real concern that the Syrians were about to unleash a campaign of heavy bombard- ment. They were under pressure to pull out of Lebanon if the Israelis did. And their Russian backers did not want that to happen as they would lose their valuable foothold. Pressure from the other Arab states prevented the shelling. Instead, the Syrians organised shootings and car bombings. As our tour progressed, the
About to leave on patrol
situation became substantially worse and for some time we had to shut down the two top floors of the building as the 120mm rockets regularly fell around us.
As operations demanded, there were
Corporal Pass leading 4th Troop from camp back gates
Patrol leaving from the front gates