The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced this Friday new Israeli fire on a position of the Blue Helmets in southern Lebanon, the day after a diplomatic outcry after similar shots injured two Indonesians. Friday noon, the Quai d’Orsay announced the summons of the Israeli ambassador to France. The French Ministry of the Armed Forces also confirmed to Le Parisien that no Frenchman was among those injured yesterday or this Friday.
In a statement, the ministry said it “condemns in the strongest terms the intentional and systematic shooting by the Israeli army on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the latest of which targeted (…) the Sri Lankan base. -Lankans, causing injuries.” The official ANI agency reports for its part that “an Israeli Merkava tank targeted a UNIFIL tower (…) injuring soldiers of the Sri Lankan contingent”. A UN source confirmed that a “watchtower” had been targeted, located at the force’s main base in Naqoura.
“A short time ago, a report was received regarding damage to the UNIFIL outpost in the Naqoura area,” the Israeli military told the Times of Israel newspaper. “According to the report, two UNIFIL personnel were injured as a result of the damage to the outpost. The incident remains under investigation and details are being reviewed.”
On Thursday, two peacekeepers from the UN force (UNIFIL) deployed between Lebanon and Israel were injured after “Israeli tank fire” on their headquarters in southern Lebanon, the United Nations mission said on Thursday. They were hospitalized with minor injuries. This contingent of 10,000 soldiers, mainly European, deployed in the Land of Cedar to enforce the 2006 ceasefire between Hezbollah and the Hebrew State, has been on the front line since the intensification of Israeli strikes against Hezbollah at the end of September and the ground operation launched by the IDF on September 30.
Israeli fire targeting peacekeepers is “intolerable” and must not be repeated, denounced UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
