FORMER Irish Defence Forces officer Major General Michael Beary has survived an explosion in Yemen.
The bomb blast struck a United Nations convoy with Mr Beary and other UN officials on board, as he fulfils his new role as Head of the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement in the war-torn country.
The vehicle hit an explosive device in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah as they headed to supervise the destruction of military explosives.
Sources reported to the Journal that two of the armoured vehicles were damaged in the attack.
No injuries have been reported.
Senior Irish diplomat Beary was appointed to this role last year and is working to bring peace back to the Middle Eastern country that has been suffering through a civil war since 2014.
According to the United Nations, more than 24million people are in need of humanitarian aid and protection, making it the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
Mr Beary has been deployed all over the globe, including in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and Uganda.
Major General Beary has had a long career since joining the Irish Army in 1975. He served from 2016 to 2018 as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) having previously served there in 1982, 1989 and 1994-95.
He further served as General Officer, commanding Irish Defence Forces from 2013 to 2016 with numerous positions at the unit, brigade and defence force headquarters levels.
From 2011 to 2013, he commanded the European Union military training mission in Somalia and in 2004 he was the Liaison Team Leader with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
He was previously Director of Training for the Irish Defence Forces and Commandant of the Military College.
Mr Beary – who holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Studies and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy – retired from the Irish Army in 2018 and has since lectured at universities across Ireland.
He has also written about international peacekeeping and led United Nations Boards of Inquiry in Africa.