The Financial Times said Wednesday that the EU decision to place Hezbollah's military wing on its terror list "has put Unifil, the multinational force which has helped keep an edgy peace on the Israeli-Lebanese border since 2006, in an awkward position, with some observers even fearing for the peacekeepers' safety," noting that a third of Unifil's 10,000 troops are from European countries and most people living in the green hills they patrol are staunch supporters of the group.

"In Hizbollah's eyes, the foreign troops in the country's south that were bulked up after the 2006 war are under their protection. Though the peacekeepers are supposed to help the Lebanese army curb Hizbollah's military activities in the south, their mandate to enforce this is limited. The force, meanwhile, and particularly the Europeans in it, provides Hizbollah with a buffer against future Israeli attacks", the newspaper said.

According to Tony McKenna, the commander of the Irish battalion, the pro-Hizbollah community leaders with whom his contingent regularly liaises have not reproached them yet for the designation.

"We would have expected if there was going to be a backlash, mayors would not be meeting us, or if they were meeting us, giving us a dressing down - we haven't encountered this yet," says Lt Col McKenna.

Even the mayor plays down any suggestion of violence, insisting that Hizbollah will respond "politically" to the EU designation.

"They put us on the terrorist list, but we're going to treat [Unifil] well, because that's our way," he said.

For now, official optimism on the ground is tempered with caution. "Whether other events overtake us I don't know," said Lt Col McKenna. "But has it [the EU designation] impacted negatively on our operations, our posture on the ground? No."