(Beirut) Rome accused Israel of possible “war crimes” after the UN force deployed between Lebanon and Israel denounced “repeated” Israeli fire on its positions, including one that injured two peacekeepers on Thursday.
The Israeli army assured that it had asked UN soldiers to remain “in protected spaces” before shooting “next to” their base, but Washington, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Dublin and Jakarta protested, as well as the UN Security Council met Thursday in New York.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), of which 10,000 soldiers are deployed in the south of the country, has called for an end to hostilities since cross-border fire for a year between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah turned to open war.
On Thursday morning, UNIFIL announced that “two peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli army Merkava tank fired on an observation tower of UNIFIL headquarters” in Naqoura, “directly hitting it and causing the fall” of the two men.
Of Indonesian nationality according to a UNIFIL spokesperson, the latter are “still in hospital”, but “their injuries are not serious”.
“War crimes”
Immediately, Italy, the leading Western country contributing to UNIFIL in terms of personnel, with nearly 900 soldiers mobilized, denounced “intolerable” acts and summoned the Israeli ambassador for a “firm protest”.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto then estimated that Israeli fire against UNIFIL “could constitute war crimes and certainly represent very serious violations of the norms of international humanitarian law”.
Madrid denounced a “serious violation of international law”, demanding that the security of the Blue Helmets be “guaranteed”.
The United States said it was “very concerned,” urging Israel “not to threaten the security of UN peacekeeping forces.”
For its part, France said it “condemned any attack on the security of UNIFIL”.
Paris had requested, before the incident, a new meeting of the UN Security Council devoted to Lebanon.
Its 15 members, in the presence of Israel, Lebanon and Iran in session, protested and the head of the Blue Helmets, French diplomat Jean-Pierre Lacroix, warned that “the security and safety of the maintaining soldiers of peace were increasingly in danger.
“Israel above the law”
The Indonesian ambassador to the UN, Hari Prabowo, saw in this incident “a clear demonstration that Israel places itself above international law, impunity and our common values of peace”.
France also announced that it had decided to organize with Italy a meeting next week with the other contributing European countries – Spain and Ireland.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris blasted X as “an irresponsible act”, adding that “this must stop”.
“Israeli soldiers also fired on a UN position in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers had taken shelter and damaging vehicles and communications systems,” UNIFIL said.
On Wednesday, “Israeli soldiers deliberately shot at the position’s cameras, rendering them inoperable, and also deliberately fired at a position where tripartite meetings were regularly held before this conflict broke out,” according to the same source. .
Thursday morning, Hezbollah claimed to have “destroyed an Israeli tank which was advancing” towards Ras al-Naqoura and claimed to have “targeted Israeli troops who were trying to evacuate wounded soldiers from Ras al-Naqoura with salvos of rockets”.
The pro-Iranian armed formation added that it had fired rockets at Israeli soldiers who were advancing towards the Lebanese border town of Maïs al-Jabal.
“Extremely dangerous”
On Sunday, UNIFIL denounced operations by the Israeli army near one of its positions, deeming them “extremely dangerous”.
It announced on October 5 “to maintain its positions”, despite a request from the Israeli army to “move some of them”.
The Lebanese Islamist movement said it had called on its fighters not to endanger the peacekeepers.
Since the beginning of the escalation, UNIFIL has been calling on the two belligerents to apply Security Council resolution 1701.
This text, which marked the end of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, stipulates that only UN peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army can be deployed in southern Lebanon.
But Hezbollah maintained a presence in this region and Israel launched ground operations against the pro-Iranian movement on September 30.