Two UN peacekeepers injured in Israeli attack in Lebanon

Beirut/Jerusalem –

Two UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli strike near their watch tower in southern Lebanon on Friday, the Israeli military said, the second explosion in 48 hours at the peacekeepers’ main base in the area as Israel battles Hezbollah. Happened.

The UNIFIL force declared the incident a “serious incident” and said the safety of UN personnel and property must be ensured.

France summoned Israel’s ambassador and issued a joint statement with Italy and Spain saying such attacks were “unjustified”.

US President Joe Biden said he was calling on Israel not to attack UNIFIL forces, while Russia declared itself “outraged” and demanded that Israel refrain from taking “hostile actions” against the peacekeeping force.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had already condemned the attacks against the organization’s staff.

The Israeli military expressed “deep concern” and said that two peacekeepers were wounded by Israeli fire while engaging with Hezbollah.

They had been warned hours earlier to take shelter. The United Nations reported that both were from Sri Lanka.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began a year ago, when the Iran-backed group began launching rockets into northern Israel in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.

This has escalated in recent weeks: Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing several top Hezbollah leaders, and sending ground forces across the border. Hezbollah, on its part, has launched rockets towards Israel.

An Israeli attack in the center of Beirut kills 22 and injures 139According to interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati. The Lebanese army said two soldiers were killed and three wounded when Israeli forces attacked one of its military posts in Kafra in the south.

Israel says its operation in Lebanon is aimed at making northern Israel safe for thousands of people who were forced to flee the country last year due to Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Its expanding campaign has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to the Lebanese government, which it says has killed more than 2,100 and wounded more than 10,000 in more than a year of fighting. The figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but includes dozens of women and children.

According to Israeli officials, Hezbollah rockets have killed at least 54 people in Israel, more than half of them civilians.

Israel wants safe return of residents

In a video released Friday, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Harzi Halevi said he would not stop his operation “until we guarantee that we can safely return residents, and not just now, But also for the future.”

The head of Hezbollah’s media office, Mohammed Afif, promised Lebanese people displaced by Israeli attacks, the majority of whom belong to Hezbollah’s Shia support base, that they would soon return to their homes.

He said the group’s priority is to defeat Israel militarily, but it is open to diplomatic efforts to stop “aggression”.

The watchtower that came under Israeli fire on Friday is located at the main UNIFIL base in Nakoura. UNIFIL said an Israeli bulldozer also demolished barricades at UN positions near the Blue Line, which marks the border between Lebanon and Israel, while tanks moved nearby.

UNIFIL has more than 10,000 personnel, of which Italy, France, Malaysia, Indonesia and India are the main contributors.

The chief of staff of the Irish Defense Forces, which has about 340 troops in UNIFIL, said he believed Friday’s attack on the observation tower was deliberate.

“An observation tower with a tank right above it, which is a very small target, has to be done very deliberately, and it is a direct fire. So, from a military point of view, it is not a casual action.” This is a direct action,” Lieutenant General Sean Clancy told RTÉ television.

Two Indonesian UN peacekeepers were injured on Thursday after falling from a watchtower under Israeli tank fire, after Israel said its troops had opened fire nearby and that Hezbollah fighters were operating from areas close to UNIFIL positions. Were.

Family of eight killed in Israeli attack

In Beirut, Thursday night’s airstrike was the third in the center of the Lebanese capital since Israel launched an offensive on September 23.

Security sources said the target was senior Hezbollah official Wafik Safa and that he survived. A Hezbollah lawmaker who visited the site on Friday said that no senior Hezbollah official was present at the time.

At a hospital in Beirut, where dozens were injured, a man sat on a chair in the hallway, his knees wrapped in white bandages and his face and body covered in wounds.

“The situation… I don’t even know how to describe it. We found three martyrs… torn to pieces,” said Wael al-Jaroush, head of the medical department at Maqsaid hospital.

According to a security source, among the dead were a family of eight, including three children, who were evacuated from the south.

In northern Israel, a Thai worker was killed by falling ammunition, possibly fired from Lebanon, the Israeli military reported. He also said the Israeli Air Force had killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile attacks on the Ramot Naftali area in northern Israel.

Hezbollah had no immediate comment on that statement.

In Iran, the Revolutionary Guard announced that the body of its deputy commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoshan, who was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut on September 27 along with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, had been found.

A National Guard statement carried by state media said Nilforoshan’s body would be taken to Iran for burial at an unspecified date.

The Middle East is on high alert for the possibility of a new tension, awaiting Israel’s response following the Iranian missile attack on October 1.

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