Since the mid-1970s, the British Army had ceased using roads in south County Armagh because of the threat of culvert mines and almost all military movement including minor and major operations, especially the resupply of security bases, had to be carried out by helicopter.

[1] In February 1974, up to 20 members of the Provisional IRA had briefly set up a checkpoint at Cullaville with the specific purpose of defusing a bomb planted by them eight days before in a local supermarket,[2] that the Welsh Guards had failed to find earlier.

[3] British efforts to prevent illegal roadblocks in South Armagh were thwarted by the IRA during the 1981 Irish hunger strike, when a covert observation post was ambushed and a Royal Green Jackets soldier was killed.

[5] A member of the IRA in South Armagh later told author Toby Harnden that the group had made a detailed study of the watchtowers' blind spots, and they had concluded that the outposts could surveil only 35 per cent of the area in good weather conditions.

"[12] Michael Mates, then Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office, questioned by Mallon about the inaction of the British Army, claimed that the terrain allowed the IRA team to hide from the watchtower, and that a come-on operation couldn't be ruled out.