Israel Strikes UNIFIL Convoy – Five Peacekeepers Wounded, Three Civilians Killed
The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced on Thursday the injury of five peacekeepers near a Lebanese army military checkpoint in Sidon in southern Lebanon.
“This afternoon, a UNIFIL convoy bringing newly-arrived peacekeepers to south Lebanon was passing Saida (Sidon) when a drone strike occurred nearby,” a statement by the UN mission read.
UNIFIL said that as a result of the Israeli strike “five peacekeepers were injured and treated by the Lebanese Red Cross on the spot”.
The statement added that three Lebanese army soldiers also sustained injuries at the checkpoint.
“We remind all actors of their obligation to avoid actions putting peacekeepers or civilians in danger,” UNIFIL said.
It concluded by stressing that “differences should be resolved at the negotiating table, not through violence.”
For its part, the Lebanese army said in a statement on Thursday that an Israeli strike targeted a civilian vehicle near the Al-Awali checkpoint at the northern entrance of Sidon, resulting in the deaths of three civilians inside the vehicle, the Lebanese National News Network (NNA) reported.
According to NNA, the Lebanese Civil Defense teams recovered the bodies of the three slain civilians from the targeted vehicle near the Al-Awali checkpoint and transported them to Sidon Governmental Hospital.
Another person was injured and transported to another medical facility in the city, according to NNA.
The targeted vehicle was reportedly hit in the lane leading to Sidon, before the army checkpoint, with traffic coming to a halt after the Israeli strike.
NNA reported that teams of the Red Cross and the Civil Defense were at the scene to assist with evacuations and extinguishing of fire that resulted from the drone strike.
Repeated Attacks on UNIFIL
Israel has repeatedly struck the UN peacekeeping mission since the onset of its war on Lebanon.
On October 20, UNIFIL accused Israel of deliberately demolishing one of its observation towers and a perimeter fence in Marwahin, in Tyre, south of Lebanon.
UNIFIL slammed Israel for violating a UN position and sabotaging its properties labeling the Israeli assault as “a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701,” the statement said.
On October 10, UNIFIL said that its headquarters in the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura and two nearby sites had been struck by Israeli forces.
On that same day, an Israeli Merkava tank fired on an observation tower, striking it directly and causing two peacekeepers to fall, sending them to hospital with minor injuries, UNIFIL said in a statement.
On October 9, UNIFIL said, Israeli forces deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras.
The occupation forces also deliberately fired on UNP 1-32A, where regular Tripartite meetings were held before the conflict began, damaging lighting and a relay station, according to a UN News report.
Additionally, Israeli forces fired at UN position 1-31 in Ras Naqoura, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering and damaging vehicles and a communications system, the report added.
An Israeli military drone was also observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance.
The repeated Israeli attacks against the peacekeepers’ mission in Lebanon have been met with worldwide condemnation.
War on Lebanon
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, 2023, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.
Israel escalated its aggression with the cyber-terror attacks on September 17 and 18, which claimed the lives of at least 37 people including children, and injured around 3000 others.
This went hand in hand with a series of assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, including that of the Secretary-General of the resistance party Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
These developments coincided with unprecedented bombings and airstrikes by Israel’s army on different cities across Lebanon particularly in the south, Bekaa and the southern district of Beirut.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on November 7 that 3,102 Lebanese were killed and 13,819 were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
The Lebanese Government Emergency Committee announced on October 29 that the number of shelters has reached 1,100 centers with maximum capacity.
The Head of the committee, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin revealed that the total number of displaced people exceeds 1.2 million.
According to the committee, 355,910 Syrian nationals and 167,295 Lebanese nationals crossed into Syria from September 23 to October 29.
(PC, NNA)