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Israeli forces fired a tank shell at the headquarters of a United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the United Nations said, wounding two international soldiers as Israel pursued war. campaign against Hizbollah rebels.
The force said the attack on the watchtower inside its headquarters in the village of Ras al-Naqoura was the third time in 24 hours that Israeli fire attacked border posts operated by the United Nations interim force in Lebanon. use.
Unifil’s headquarters and nearby border posts have come under constant fire since Israel began stepping up its campaign against Iran-backed Hizbollah last month – hitting the country with thousands of air strikes. attack, killing most of the group’s leaders and launching a ground invasion.
“Any deliberate attack against peacekeepers is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 1701,” Unifil said on Thursday. on Thursday, referring to a United Nations resolution giving Unifil the mandate to patrol southern Lebanon.
Italy, which has more than 1,250 peacekeepers in Lebanon, said it had officially protested to the Israeli government and had summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said he had also complained to the United Nations. “These incidents are unacceptable. They must be carefully and decisively avoided,” he said.
Unifil has not announced the nationalities of the injured soldiers, but Italy and Ireland said their troops were not involved.
Unifil said it was monitoring the Israeli military on the matter. The Israel Defense Forces did not respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Israel called on United Nations peacekeepers to withdraw from their positions along the Green Line, the de facto border between the two countries, as it steps up its ground invasion. That sparked outrage from countries contributing troops to the 46-year-old peacekeeping force.
Ireland, which has 347 soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon as part of a joint battalion with Polish soldiers, declined those callsaffirmed that it would not evacuate them even if Israel increased its air campaign.
Earlier this week, Micheál Martin, Ireland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, criticized Israel’s “reckless behavior.” Asked by broadcaster RTÉ whether the IDF used soldiers as human shields, Martin said: “They certainly take advantage of the cover they give.”
“We do not want to see Unifil forces in danger in any way,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier this week.
Israeli forces and Hizbollah militants have clashed at several points along or near the unofficial border in recent days, including near Labbouneh, where one of the United Nations border posts was attacked on Thursday. Year.
Unifil has also been criticized by Hizbollah in the past. In 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and another seriously injured when their armored patrol vehicle came under fire in an area controlled by Hizbollah.
On Thursday, Unifil said its bases and headquarters were facing “deliberate” fire from Israeli forces, suggesting that they were targeted rather than caught in the crossfire.
In one case, IDF soldiers fired on a Unifil position in the southern village of Labbouneh on Wednesday, the international force said, adding that the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering was attacked.
“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance,” it said, adding that IDF soldiers “deliberately shot and neutralized” cameras monitored the border station’s perimeter the day before.
In another incident, Unifil said Israeli soldiers “deliberately opened fire” on the peacekeeping force’s headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura on Wednesday – the building where regular meetings between Israel are held. , Lebanon and Unifil before the war – causing damage.
Unifil was founded in 1978 and expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah. It has about 10,500 peacekeepers, with major contributing countries including France, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ghana.
Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon, which began late last month, has grown to four army divisions – with a maximum strength of up to 20,000 soldiers – as the country’s conflict with Hizbollah intensifies. increase.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,100 people in the past year and forced more than 1.2 million to flee their homes, mostly in the past two weeks. They have also caused widespread destruction in southern Lebanon.
Israel said the attack in Lebanon was aimed at securing the northern border area to allow about 60,000 Israelis to return to their homes, after a year of cross-border gun battles with Hizbollah.
The Lebanese group began firing rockets toward Israel in support of Gaza the day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
Additional reporting by Mehul Srivastava, Jude Webber in Dublin and Steff Chávez in Washington
