Israeli forces fire at UN peacekeeper positions in south Lebanon, peacekeepers say

An Israeli Army tank is transported, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Beirut, October 10 — Israeli forces fired on two positions used by UN peacekeepers in Lebanon on Thursday and at a third one on Wednesday, the UN force said, as Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south and pressed on with its assault on Hezbollah.

The UNIFIL force said two of its peacekeepers were injured in one of the incidents, when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing them to fall. There were no casualties in the other two incidents, a UN source said.

“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which is waging a widening offensive in Lebanon against the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

The conflict erupted one year ago when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. It has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with Israel using airstrikes to pound Beirut’s southern suburbs, the south, and the Bekaa Valley, before sending in ground forces.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said contacts were under way between the United States and France with the aim of reviving a ceasefire, an apparent reference to an effort to clinch a truce which Israel rejected last month. There was no immediate comment from Washington or Paris.

The Middle East remained on high alert for further escalation in the region, awaiting Israel’s response to an Iranian missile strike last week.

Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about potential Israeli retaliation against Iran, in a call both sides described as positive.

Israeli drone at UN position

Israel says its Lebanon offensive aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who evacuated northern Israel due to Hezbollah rocket fire. Israeli attacks have displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon in the last few weeks.

UNIFIL said an Israeli Merkava tank fired at the observation post at Naqoura, a border town where it is headquartered.

Israeli soldiers had also fired at a UN position in Ras Naqoura “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system”.

“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance,” UNIFIL said. The previous day, Israeli forces had “fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras”, it added. They also deliberately fired at and damaged another position, it said.

Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli forces on Thursday with a missile salvo while they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura border area, and they were directly hit.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force was established in 1978 and expanded following a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Its major contributing nations include France, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ghana.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that airstrikes overnight and the day before targeted weapons storage facilities in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, where it said Hezbollah infrastructure was struck.

It also told residents of southern Lebanon they were “prohibited from returning to the homes they have evacuated in the villages and towns until further notice for their safety”, in a post on X.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon over the last year, the vast majority of them in the last few weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah cross-border fire at Israel has killed 53 people over the same period, more than half of them civilians.

Emergency workers killed

The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike overnight hit a civil defence centre in the village of Derdghaiya, some 10 km (6 miles) from the border, killing five paramedics and rescue workers.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah stunning blows - including the assassination of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. But Hezbollah has sustained its rocket attacks on Israel, and the Israeli military said around 40 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel, some of which were intercepted, and several fell in the area of the upper Galilee.

Conflict has spread around the region since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, drawing in Iraqi, Yemeni and Lebanese groups and fuelling fears of an even bigger war.

Biden urged Netanyahu to minimise civilian harm in Lebanon, the White House said, in a “direct and very productive” 30-minute call on Wednesday about potential Israeli retaliation against Iran. Israel has promised that Iran will pay for last week’s missile attack, which caused little damage. Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction.

Biden last week made comments discouraging Israel from striking Iranian oil fields and said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.