Peacemakers’ Life At Risk In Lebanon

Concerns are mounting for the safety of United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon amid Israel’s 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 forces and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as “increasingly alarming,” and putting “peacekeepers at serious risk.”

“The safety and security of peacekeepers is now increasingly in jeopardy,” Lacroix said.

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.

The Israeli tank fire directly hit the tower, causing the peacekeepers to fall, UNIFIL said, adding that other “nearby positions have been repeatedly hit.”

UNFIL said that “any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”

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 “remain in protected spaces” during the incident.

“The IDF is operating in southern Lebanon and maintains routine communication with UNIFIL,” the IDF said in a statement after Thursday’s incident.

“This 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,” the statement added.

UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the two peacekeepers – both Indonesian – were hospitalized. Their injuries are not serious, he said.

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.

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.

A senior Hezbollah official was the target of the attack, according to a source in the militant group and Israeli media reports. Wafiq Safa, leader of Hezbollah’s liaison unit, survived the assassination attempt, the Hezbollah source told CNN. Israel has not publicly claimed Thursday’s strikes or confirmed any targets.

CNN/Shakirat Sadiq