UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Say Israeli Forces Fired on Them Again

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon announced Wednesday that Israel Defense Forces troops fired on one of its positions in the southern part of the country in the latest of a string of attacks that the mission said have injured five of its personnel.

"This morning, peacekeepers at a position near Kafer Kela observed an IDF Merkava tank firing at their watchtower. Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged," the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement. "Yet again we see direct and apparently deliberate fire on a UNIFIL position."

"We remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of U.N. personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of U.N. premises at all times," the mission added.

The IDF said Wednesday that "UNIFIL infrastructure sites and forces are not a target."

Wednesday's reported incident follows other attacks by IDF troops on UNIFIL positions in southern Lebanon. Last week, two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured when an IDF tank fired on an observation tower at UNIFIL's headquarters in Naquora. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the incident as "intolerable" and said that it "cannot be repeated."

On Sunday, two IDF tanks forced their way into a UNIFIL post in Ramyah to request personnel to turn off their lights. IDF troops reportedly remained there for 45 minutes and set off smoke bombs, sickening numerous peacekeepers. The IDF admitted to these actions, claiming they occurred during an attempt to rescue wounded Israeli soldiers under fire.

That same day, Israel asked UNIFIL to withdraw its troops from Lebanon's border with Israel in order to keep them "out of harm's way."

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Guterres, replied that "peacekeepers remain in all positions and the U.N. flag continues to fly."

Djuarric noted that UNIFIL positions have been adversely affected 20 times by Israeli forces since the start of the IDF invasion of Lebanon earlier this month.

"Five peacekeepers have been injured during these incidents, including one peacekeeper who sustained a bullet wound," he said.

These incidents come amid Israel's escalation of its yearlong war on Gaza—which has left more than 150,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing and for which it is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice—into Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been launching rockets and other projectiles at Israel since immediately after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack.

Israel's invasion and bombardment of Lebanon—which has included the surprise detonation of thousands of pagers and other communication devices—has killed at least 2,350 people, wounded over 10,000 others, and forcibly displaced more than 1.3 million people since last October, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese city of Nabatieh's municipal headquarters killed at least 16 people, including Mayor Ahmad Kheil, who was leading a crisis response meeting, according to Al Jazeera. More than 50 others were wounded in the attack.

"The Israeli government has made it clear that it intends to expand its war across the region and resettle territories whose native populations they decimate," Council on American-Islamic Relations executive director Nihad Awad said in response to the airstrike. "These are the actions of a rogue government that the Biden administration must stop enabling before more innocents are slaughtered and more chaos spreads."