The UN force deployed between Lebanon and Israel said Thursday that an “Israeli tank” had fired on its headquarters in southern Lebanon and injured two Indonesian peacekeepers, accusing Israeli troops of firing “repeatedly” on its positions.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), of which 10,000 soldiers are deployed in the south of the country, has been calling for an end to hostilities since the start of the escalation between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.
“This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli army Merkava tank fired on an observation tower of the UNIFIL headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing the fall” of the two Blue helmets, indicates UNIFIL in a press release.
The two men, of Indonesian nationality according to a UNIFIL spokesperson, are “still in hospital”, but “their injuries are not serious”.
“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,” the text continues.
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.
“Extremely dangerous”
He then indicated that he had “targeted Israeli troops who were trying to evacuate wounded soldiers from Ras al-Naqoura with salvos of rockets”, thus causing further losses.
The pro-Iranian armed formation added that it had fired rockets at Israeli soldiers who were advancing towards the Lebanese town of Maïs al-Jabal.
Hezbollah still claims to have fired “major salvos of rockets” at northern Israel.
After a year of cross-border firefights, Israel is now waging open war against Hezbollah.
On Sunday, UNIFIL denounced operations by the Israeli army near one of its positions near the border village of Maroun al-Ras, 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 claimed to have called on its fighters not to intervene and not to endanger the peacekeepers.
Since the beginning of the escalation, UNIFIL has been calling on the two belligerents to apply UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
This resolution, which marked the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, stipulates that only UN peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army can be deployed in southern Lebanon.
Despite this resolution, the movement has maintained a presence in this region since 2006.
Israel launched ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on September 30.