The UN force deployed between Lebanon and Israel on Thursday accused Israeli troops of firing “repeatedly” on its positions, reporting two injured Indonesian peacekeepers, which sparked a diplomatic outcry.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), of which 10,000 soldiers are deployed in the south of the country, has been calling for an end to hostilities since the start of the escalation between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.
On Thursday morning, she announced, “two peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli army Merkava tank fired on an observation tower of the UNIFIL headquarters” in Naqoura, “directly hitting it and causing the fall of both men.
Of Indonesian nationality according to a UNIFIL spokesperson, the latter are “still in hospital” but “their injuries are not serious”.
“Israeli soldiers also fired on a UN position in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers had found shelter and damaging vehicles and communications systems,” UNIFIL continues in a statement. .
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On Wednesday, “Israeli soldiers deliberately shot at the position’s cameras, rendering them inoperable, and also deliberately fired at a position where tripartite meetings were regularly held before this conflict broke out,” according to the same source. .
Immediately, Rome, the leading Western country contributing to UNIFIL in terms of personnel, with nearly 900 soldiers mobilized, denounced “intolerable” acts on Thursday and summoned the Israeli ambassador for a “firm protest”.
Shortly after, France and Italy decided to organize a meeting next week with the other contributing European countries – Spain and Ireland – according to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.
The President of the European Council Charles Michel, traveling to Laos for the annual ASEAN summit, condemned the shootings on Friday.
“An attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission is irresponsible, unacceptable, and that is why we call on Israel and all parties to fully respect international humanitarian law,” the leader said, on the sidelines of a summit of Southeast Asian countries.
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Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris, whose country has a contingent of peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, slammed X as “an irresponsible act” adding that “this must stop”.
Thursday morning, Hezbollah claimed to have “destroyed an Israeli tank which was advancing” towards Ras al-Naqoura.
He then indicated that he had “targeted Israeli troops who were trying to evacuate wounded soldiers from Ras al-Naqoura with salvos of rockets”.
The pro-Iranian armed formation added that it had fired rockets at Israeli soldiers who were advancing towards the Lebanese town of Maïs al-Jabal.
Hezbollah still claims to have fired “major salvos of rockets” at northern Israel.
After a year of cross-border firefights, Israel is now waging open war against Hezbollah.
On Sunday, UNIFIL denounced operations by the Israeli army near one of its positions in the area of the border village of Maroun al-Ras, deeming them “extremely dangerous”.
It announced on October 5 “to maintain its positions”, despite a request from the Israeli army to “move some of them”.
The Lebanese Islamist movement said it had called on its fighters not to endanger the peacekeepers.
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Since the start of the escalation, UNIFIL has been calling on the two belligerents to apply UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
This resolution, which marked the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, stipulates that only UN peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army can be deployed in southern Lebanon.
Despite this resolution, Hezbollah has maintained a presence in this region since 2006, and Israel launched ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on September 30.
Challenge (with AFP)
