UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said Israeli tanks broke through a gate to enter a Blue Helmet position in Lebanon Sunday, after blocking their movement the previous day.
‘At around 4:30am, while peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF (Israeli military) Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position’ in the Ramia area of southern Lebanon, the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission said.
‘They requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights. The tanks left about 45 minutes later after UNIFIL protested through our liaison mechanism.’
A little over two hours later, peacekeepers reported ‘the firing of several rounds 100 metres (yards) north, which emitted smoke’.
‘Despite putting on protective masks, 15 peacekeepers suffered effects, including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions, after the smoke entered the camp,’ it said, adding they were receiving treatment.
On Saturday, Israeli soldiers ‘stopped a critical UNIFIL logistical movement near Mais al-Jabal, denying it passage’, the force said, referring to an area in south Lebanon.
UNIFIL asked for explanations from the Israeli army over what it said were violations against their force.
‘We have requested an explanation from the IDF from these shocking violations,’ 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.’
A UNIFIL spokesman told AFP on Saturday that the mission would stay in place despite five of its peacekeepers being wounded and damage to their facilities in the war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
UNIFIL said Israeli tank fire on Thursday caused two Indonesian peacekeepers to fall off a watch tower in Naqura.
The following day it said explosions close to an observation tower in Naqura wounded two Sri Lankan Blue Helmets, while Israel said it had responded to an ‘immediate threat’ near a UN peacekeeping position.
On Saturday UNIFIL said a peacekeeper in Naqura ‘was hit by gunfire’ on Friday night.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN chief on Sunday to move peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon out of ‘harm’s way’, saying Hezbollah was using them as ‘human shields’.
His call to UN chief Antonio Guterres came a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) repeated its refusal to withdraw from the border area after five of its members were wounded in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
‘Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,’ Netanyahu said in a video statement issued by his office.
Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israeli forces had asked UNIFIL several times to leave, saying that the peacekeepers’ presence had ‘the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields’.
‘Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers,’ the premier said.
‘We regret the harm to UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing our utmost to prevent such harm. But the simplest and most obvious way to ensure this is simply to withdraw them from the danger zone.’
UNIFIL has refused to leave its positions in southern Lebanon.
‘There was a unanimous decision to stay because it’s important for the UN flag to still fly high in this region, and to be able to report to the Security Council,’ UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP in an interview on Saturday.
He said Israel had asked UNIFIL to withdraw from positions ‘up to five kilometres (three miles) from the Blue Line’ separating both countries, but the peacekeepers refused.
That would have included its 29 positions in south Lebanon.
UNIFIL, a mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities, was created following Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon.
It is currently tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Forty contributor nations to UNIFIL said on Saturday that they ‘strongly condemn recent attacks’ on the peacekeepers.
‘Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated,’ said the joint statement, posted on X by the Polish UN mission and signed by nations including leading contributors Indonesia, Italy and India.
Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati also condemned the Israeli call on UNIFIL to abandon the south.
‘The warning that Netanyahu addressed to... Guterres demanding the removal of the UNIFIL represents a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international’ norms, Mikati said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday vowed to prevent Hezbollah from returning to fighting positions along the border, even after the Israeli military withdraws from the area.
‘Even once IDF (military) troops withdraw, we will not allow Hezbollah terrorists to return to these areas,’ said Gallant during a visit to an observation post overseeing southern Lebanon.
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Israeli troops gather at what they said an abandoned Hezbollah position during a controlled embed organised by the Israeli military in southern Lebanon’s Naqoura region near the border with Israel on Sunday. AFP photo
