UN mission in Lebanon attacked by Israel again

The Israeli military confirmed it opened fire near the United Nations headquarters in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura on Friday, hitting an observation post and wounding two peacekeepers for the second time in two days.

An initial assessment by the Israeli military found that soldiers in southern Lebanon targeted what they believed to be a threat about 50 meters from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon but ended up attacking the peacekeepers instead.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said Israeli forces attacked a UNIFIL watchtower in Naqoura on October 11, 2024. Photo: Mahmoud ZAYYAT

One of the injured peacekeepers was taken to hospital in the nearby city of Tyre, while the other received medical attention on the spot, the UN force, known as UNIFIL, said. Both were identified as Sri Lankan.

The Israeli military repeated its warning that UNIFIL personnel must abandon their positions in areas where Hezbollah militants have fired rockets into Israel. After the first attack on Thursday, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the 300 peacekeepers in frontline positions on Lebanon’s southern border had been temporarily relocated to larger bases.

In a statement condemning the airstrike as a “grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL reported that Friday’s blast occurred at the same location the day before, when Israeli tank fire wounded two Indonesian peacekeepers and damaged vehicles and communications systems.

“Peacekeepers must be protected by all parties to the conflict, and what happened is clearly reprehensible,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The French foreign ministry accused Israel of deliberately opening fire on peacekeepers and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the country on Friday to lodge a formal protest.

In a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of UNIFIL forces and urged Israel to "shift from military operations to a diplomatic path as soon as possible," the Pentagon said.

When US President Joe Biden was asked by reporters if he would ask Israel to stop attacking UN peacekeepers, he replied: "Absolutely, absolutely."

UNIFIL, with more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, was created to oversee Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after its invasion in 1978.

The United Nations expanded its mission after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, allowing peacekeepers to patrol a buffer zone established along the border, known as the “green line.”

Hoang Anh (according to AP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/phai-bo-lien-hop-quoc-tai-lebanon-lai-bi-israel-tan-cong-cac-ben-len-an-manh-me-post316474.html