Secretary-General Appoints Major General Michael Beary of Ireland Head of Mission, Force Commander, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Major General Michael Beary of Ireland as his new Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The new Force Commander succeeds Major General Luciano Portolano of Italy, who will complete his assignment on 24 July, and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his exemplary service and leadership of UNIFIL over the past two years.
Major General Beary has had a long and distinguished career since joining the Irish Army as an Infantry Corps Officer in 1975. As General Officer commanding 2nd Brigade since 2013, he served in a wide variety of assignments and held several command and staff officer appointments, including at the unit, brigade and defence force headquarters levels.
He spent 10 years on overseas deployments, including in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Lebanon, Uganda and Somalia. 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.
Major General Beary holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Studies and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy. He is a graduate of the Command and Staff School of the Irish Defence Forces, and of the National War College at the National Defence University in Washington, D.C.
Born in 1956, he is married and has three children.