Israel blamed “poor weather conditions” for a situation in which Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon on Sunday, saying that blue-helmeted UNIFIL peacekeepers had been mistaken for “suspects,” and that IDF troops had fired “warning shots.”
A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) statement said Israeli forces “fired on UNIFIL peacekeepers from a Merkava tank from near a position Israel has established in Lebanese territory.” The statement added that heavy machine gun rounds had landed some five meters (16 feet) from peacekeepers. No one was injured in the incident.
Israel said it had identified “two suspects” in the El Hamames area of southern Lebanon and that, “Troops subsequently fired warning shots, and the suspects distanced themselves. No injuries were reported.”
“After a review, it was determined that the suspects were UN soldiers who were conducting a patrol in the area and were classified as suspects due to poor weather conditions,” the statement continued. “No deliberate fire was directed toward UNIFIL soldiers.”
UNIFIL forces were reportedly pinned down for 30 minutes before they could depart the area after IDF soldiers withdrew.
UN calls shelling ‘serious violation’
UNIFIL officials called the incident “a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” which states that no armed forces should be operating in southern Lebanon except UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese military.
UN peacekeepers have been working in coordination with the Lebanese army in an effort to monitor a truce between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants signed last November.
Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began shortly after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militant attack on Israel that sparked the latest war in Gaza.
The current ceasefire deal calls for Hezbollah to remove all weapons from southern Lebanon and for Israel to leave all positions inside Lebanon, though Israel has held onto five positions that it deems strategically important. IDF troops have regularly carried out strikes from the positions.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah fighters. Lebanon accuses its neighbor of “violating Lebanese sovereignty, causing instability and obstructing the full deployment of the army in the south.”
Lebanon said its forces “are working, in coordination with friendly countries, to put and end to the continuous [ceasefire] violations.”
UNIFIL made clear that Sunday’s incident was not the first time Israel endangered the lives of UN peacekeepers.
“Yet again, we call on the IDF to cease any aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers,” UNIFIL said in a statement on Sunday.
Lebanon’s Catch-22 predicament over Israel and Hezbollah
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Edited by Sean Sinico