Concerns are mounting for the safety of United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon amid Israel\u2019s ground incursion, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned on Thursday, after Israeli fire resulted in the injury of two UN troops. <\/p>\n
Briefing the UN Security Council on Thursday, UN Under-Secretary General for Peace Operations Lacroix described hostilities between Israeli forces and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as \u201cincreasingly alarming,\u201d and putting \u201cpeacekeepers at serious risk.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety and security of peacekeepers is now increasingly in jeopardy,\u201d Lacroix said. <\/p>\n
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported early Thursday that the peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli tank fired toward an observation tower at its headquarters in the southern Lebanese city Naqoura. <\/p>\n
The Israeli tank fire directly hit the tower, causing the peacekeepers to fall, UNIFIL said, adding that other \u201cnearby positions have been repeatedly hit.\u201d <\/p>\n
UNFIL said that \u201cany deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts, and said in a statement that it had asked UNIFIL forces to \u201cremain in protected spaces\u201d during the incident. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe IDF is operating in southern Lebanon and maintains routine communication with UNIFIL,\u201d the IDF said in a statement after Thursday\u2019s incident. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning (Thursday), IDF troops operated in the area of Naqoura, next to a UNIFIL base. Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area,\u201d the statement added. <\/p>\n
UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the two peacekeepers \u2013 both Indonesian \u2013 were hospitalized. Their injuries are not serious, he said. <\/p>\n
UN peacekeepers have been stationed in southern Lebanon since 2006, per a mandate by the United Nations Security Council. UN peacekeepers were drawn from armies of several nations to monitor the situation along the roughly 120-kilometer (74-mile) Blue Line which separates the two states. <\/p>\n
The incident came as Israel expands its strikes across Lebanon. On Thursday, Israeli strikes on a densely populated Beirut neighborhood killed at least 22 people and wounded 117, the Lebanese health ministry said. <\/p>\n
The injury of the UN peacekeepers drew condemnation from several countries including Italy, France, and Ireland, who all have contingents in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. <\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni summoned the Israeli ambassador in Rome on Thursday after what she described as \u201cunacceptable\u201d behavior by the Israeli forces. <\/p>\n
Meloni\u2019s office said two Italian bases of UNIFIL were \u201chit by gunfire from the Israeli army\u201d on Thursday and added that the prime minister spoke to the Commander of the Western Sector of the UNIFIL mission, Gen. Stefano Messina, for an update on the safety of the Italian troops. <\/p>\n
The Italian leader also contacted Israel\u2019s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to \u201cfirmly remind\u201d him that \u201cwhat is happening near the Italian UNIFIL bases in southern Lebanon\u201d is \u201cunacceptable,\u201d according to an Italian government statement. <\/p>\n
Indonesia\u2019s mission to the UN blasted Israel over what it called \u201cdeliberate attacks,\u201d saying Friday that Israel\u2019s actions \u201crepresent a blatant attempt to spread terror on the ground to intimidate both the peacekeeping mission and international community.\u201d <\/p>\n
France also expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d after the attack, saying it was \u201cawaiting explanations from the Israeli authorities.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe protection of peacekeepers is an obligation imposed on all parties to a conflict. France calls on the parties to respect this obligation, and to allow UNIFIL to continue to implement its mandate, including by respecting its freedom of movement,\u201d a spokesperson for the French foreign ministry said. <\/p>\n
Irish Foreign Minister Miche\u00e1l Martin described the IDF\u2019s \u201ctargeting & firing on UNIFIL positions\u201d as \u201creprehensible\u201d and \u201cunacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris also expressed concern after Israeli tanks were stationed close to an UN outpost manned by Irish peacekeepers. <\/p>\n
The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell condemned what he called an \u201cinadmissible act,\u201d posting to X: \u201cAnother line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon: IDF shelling of UN peacekeepers whose positions are known. We condemn this inadmissible act, for which there is no justification.\u201d <\/p>\n
The EU foreign policy chief reiterated his support for UNIFIL and called for full accountability regarding the incident. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Concerns are mounting for the safety of United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon amid Israel\u2019s ground incursion, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned on Thursday, after Israeli fire resulted in the injury of two UN troops. Briefing the UN Security Council on Thursday, UN Under-Secretary General for Peace Operations Lacroix described hostilities between Israeli <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}