A new peacekeeper was injured in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced on Saturday. He was hit by a bullet of “still undetermined origin”. These peacekeepers are responsible for enforcing a blue line along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
The situation has become tense since the end of September: the Hebrew State has launched a vast air and land offensive in Lebanese territory against the forces of Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian Shiite movement, which continues its rocket attacks on northern Israel, in support for Palestinian Hamas.
“There is no military solution”
Friday evening, “a peacekeeper was hit by fire while a military action was taking place not far from the UNIFIL headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura”, reports a press release from the force which has 10,000 men in the south of the country. Lebanon. On Thursday and Friday, UNIFIL announced that four of its members, Indonesians and Sri Lankans, had been injured, including at least two due to an attack by Israeli troops.
VideoMacron assures that France “will not tolerate” Israel “deliberately” targeting Blue Helmets again
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told AFP on Saturday that he feared “very soon” a “regional conflict with catastrophic impact for all”. “There is no military solution,” he believes. Andrea Tenenti, pleading for “discussions at political and diplomatic levels” to “avoid catastrophe”. “The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is not just a conflict between two countries. Very soon, it could be a regional conflict with a catastrophic impact for all,” he continues.
UNIFIL suffered “a lot of damage” in its positions, he adds. But there is no question for the UN force of considering a withdrawal. “The Israeli forces asked us to leave our positions along the Blue Line, from the border up to five kilometers from the Blue Line (…) but there was a unanimous decision for us to stay, because the flag of the UN must float in this area,” judges Andrea Tenenti.
However, UNIFIL’s decision to remain in its positions was taken despite “very very difficult” conditions and “a lot of damage, even inside the bases”. “Last night (Friday), containers inside the Ghanaian peacekeepers’ position were destroyed by an explosion just outside,” he reports. “The Blue Helmets have to stay in bunkers (…) and it is very difficult to live like this for 12 months, because it did not start yesterday,” says the spokesperson.
“A violation of international humanitarian law”
Today, it is “very difficult to continue surveillance activities because the bombings are incessant,” assures Andrea Tenenti, while the primary mission of UNIFIL has been, since 1978 and then its reinforcement in 2006 after a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, to ensure a cessation of hostilities. “We have been attacked several times and we have spoken about it publicly,” he said.
“We speak regularly with both sides to initiate a de-escalation and warn them because attacking peacekeepers is not only a violation of resolution 1701 but also of international humanitarian law,” he adds.
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