©Amir Levy/Getty Images
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has accused the Israeli military of attacking a peacekeeping patrol on Saturday, during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.
The incident reportedly occurred at around midday, near the Lebanese village of Aytaroun, on the border with Israel and 125 kilometers from the Lebanese capital, Beirut. According to UNIFIL, it was “during a period of relative calm along the Blue Line.”
“Today at around 12 pm, a UNIFIL patrol was hit by IDF gunfire in the vicinity of Aytaroun, in southern Lebanon,” the UN peacekeepers said in a statement on their X (formerly Twitter) page, adding that no peacekeepers were injured, but the shelling caused damage to their vehicle.
Today at around 12 pm, a UNIFIL patrol was hit by IDF gunfire in the vicinity of Aytaroun, in southern Lebanon.
— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) November 25, 2023
No peacekeepers were injured, but the vehicle was damaged. This incident occurred during a period of relative calm along the Blue Line.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, the Israel-Lebanon border has seen frequent exchanges of fire, mainly between the IDF and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. According to AFP news agency, the cross-border fire has killed 109 people in Lebanon, including 77 Hezbollah fighters and 14 civilians, three of whom were journalists.
Last month UNIFIL, which was created by the UN Security Council in 1978 to observe Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, said that one of its members was injured in an artillery strike on the mission’s base near the village of Houla on the border.
Following the announcement of the four-day Gaza truce on Friday, Hezbollah said it would adhere to the terms of the ceasefire if Israel did, according to a Hezbollah source cited by Al Jazeera.
The UN peacekeeping mission strongly condemned Saturday's attack, calling it “deeply troubling” and urging all sides in the conflict to “safeguard peacekeepers.” UNIFIL warned on Friday that further escalation in southern Lebanon could result in “devastating consequences,” and urged all sides to “halt this cycle of violence.”
Israel has not yet commented on the incident. Previously, the IDF stated that it was striking targets belonging to Hezbollah in response to rockets fired into northern Israel.
Last month, shelling lightly wounded a UN peacekeeper near the border village of Hula, just hours after UNIFIL said a shell hit its headquarters in Naqura near the Israel-Lebanon border.
The force said it was investigating those incidents.
“We strongly remind the parties of their obligations to protect peacekeepers and avoid putting the men and women who are working to restore stability at risk,” Saturday’s UNIFIL statement said.
Cross-border fire has killed 109 people in Lebanon, including 77 Hezbollah fighters and 14 civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP count.
Six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, according to the authorities.
Even as many Lebanese may feel for the plight of Palestinians, they also fear getting entangled in a new conflict, many having already experienced the 2006 war in which more than 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, many of them civilians. At least 165 Israelis were also killed.
Since the pause went into effect on Friday, calm has largely returned to Lebanon’s southern border.
UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack.
It was bolstered after the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, and its roughly 10,000 peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides
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