Peacekeepers are determined to remain at their posts in southern Lebanon
11/10/2024 6:18
United Nations
peacekeepers are determined to remain at their posts in southern
Lebanon despite Israeli attacks in recent days and orders by
Israel's advancing military to leave, the force's spokesperson
said on Thursday.
Andrea Tenenti said the Israeli attacks on the peacekeeping
force, known as UNIFIL, on Wednesday and Thursday had wounded
two of their members and knocked out some of their monitoring
capabilities.
"Definitely, this is probably one of the most serious events
or incidents that we've been witnessing in the last 12 months,"
Tenenti said in an interview, referring to exchanges of fire
between Israeli troops and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The force's 50 contributing countries had agreed on Thursday
to keep deploying more than 10,400 peacekeepers between the
Litani River in the north and the U.N.-recognized boundary
between Lebanon and Israel known as the Blue Line in the south.
"We are there because the (U.N.) Security Council has asked
us to be there. So we are staying until the situation becomes
impossible for us to operate," Tenenti added.
UNIFIL said an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the
force's main headquarters in Naqoura on Thursday, hitting the
tower and causing two peacekeepers to fall out of it.
Israeli troops also fired at a nearby position, damaging
vehicles and a communications system, and on Wednesday
"deliberately fired at and disabled" cameras monitoring the
area, the peacekeeping force said in a statement.
Israel said its troops operated on Thursday near a UNIFIL
base in Naqoura but said it instructed the U.N. forces in the
area to remain in protected spaces, then opened fire.
UNIFIL is mandated by the Security Council to help the
Lebanese army keep the country's south free of weapons and armed
personnel other than those of the state. That has sparked
friction with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which effectively controls
the area.
Tenenti said the attacks had limited the group's monitoring
abilities but that it still had crucial work to do "assisting
local NGOs and also U.N. agencies, to bring the much-needed food
and water to all these villages."
About 1.2 million people have been displaced by Israel's
escalating operations in Lebanon in recent weeks, including
airstrikes, artillery fire and ground incursions in the south.
"Thousands of people have left, but thousands are still
stuck in this area. So deconflicting is very important. That has
been very, very challenging," Tenenti said.
U.N. agencies and journalists told Reuters that they
regularly coordinate with UNIFIL when traveling to southern
Lebanon to make sure all parties know they are in the area.
The Israeli military asked U.N. peacekeepers last week to
prepare to relocate more than 5 km (3 miles) from the
Israel-Lebanon border "as soon as possible, in order to maintain
your safety," according to an excerpt from the message seen by
Reuters.
In the same period, UNIFIL sent a letter to the Israeli
military objecting to army vehicles and troops positioning
themselves "in immediate proximity" to U.N. positions on several
occasions, including by circling Israeli Merkava tanks around
their posts or parking next to them.
The letter, dated Oct. 3 and seen by Reuters, said Israeli
forces had conducted "engineering works" on the outer perimeter
of a U.N. peacekeeping post that resulted in the Israeli
position and the U.N. post "effectively becoming one position."
It said those activities were "endangering the safety and
security of UNIFIL personnel and premises."
The Israeli military had asked UNIFIL to withdraw from its
posts in 2006, during the last major conflict between Israel and
Hezbollah, according to U.N. sources. It did not withdraw at the
time.
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