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15-10-2024
UNITED NATIONS/ BEIRUT: The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon says Israeli tanks forced their way into one of its positions early on Sunday morning.
In a statement, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks destroyed the main gate of a post in Ramyah, near the Israeli border, and “forcibly entered the position” to request it turn out its lights.
About two hours later, it said rounds were fired nearby that saw smoke enter the camp, causing 15 peacekeepers to suffer skin irritations and gastrointestinal reactions.
The IDF offered a different version of events, saying it had encroached on a Unifil position to evacuate soldiers who had been wounded by an anti-tank missile.
It said two soldiers had been “seriously injured” in the attack, with others suffering lesser degrees of injury.
“For the sake of evacuating the wounded, two tanks drove backwards, in a place where they could not advance otherwise in light of the threat of shooting, a few metres towards the Unifil position,” the IDF said.
It added that during the incident, a smoke screen was fired to aid the evacuation – and that it had “maintained continuous contact” with Unifil, stressing there was “no threat to the Unifil force from IDF activities”.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned any attacks on peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime”, adding that “Unifil personnel and its premises must never be targeted”.
“Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law,” Guterres said, according to a statement from his spokesman.
The incident is the latest in a growing number of encounters between Unifil and Israeli forces. Israel has repeatedly urged the peacekeeping force to withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where fighting was taking place, after it began a ground incursion on 30 September targeting the armed group Hezbollah.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Unifil to “immediately” get its troops “out of harm’s way” in a video statement issued by his office on Sunday, claiming that their presence in the region made them “hostages of Hezbollah”.
Unifil has so far refused these requests.
Israel has faced international condemnation for previous instances in which Unifil troops have been injured in southern Lebanon with the IDF admitting responsibility for firing toward UN posts in some cases.
Unifil said: “For the fourth time in as many days, we remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times.”
It described the breach of its post in Ramyah as “a further flagrant violation of international law”.
Unifil added that on Saturday Israeli troops had blocked them from carrying out a “critical” logistical movement near Meiss El Jebel, also near the border.
The IDF has yet to comment on that incident. But it alleged that Hezbollah had fired around 25 rockets and missiles in the last month from sites located near Unifil sites. It accused the armed group of “exploiting their proximity to UN forces”.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near daily cross-border fire since last October, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel.
Nearly 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
