( BEIRUT ) On Friday, UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned of “very serious risks” to their Blue Helmets after explosions injured two mission members near the Israeli border, marking the second such incident in two days.
The Israeli military stated that its forces had fired at a threat near a UN peacekeeping position.
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have been ongoing since last week, following Israel’s announcement of “targeted” incursions into Lebanon against Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran.
Friday’s incidents followed a statement from the UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, which reported that its positions had been “repeatedly hit.” On Thursday, two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured, leading to widespread international condemnation.
UNIFIL reported that on Friday morning, explosions near their Naqura headquarters, the second such event in 48 hours, resulted in the injury of two Sri Lankan peacekeepers.
The Israeli military claimed that soldiers in southern Lebanon had identified an immediate threat and responded with fire. An initial investigation indicated that a UNIFIL post, located around 50 meters from the threat, had been hit, causing injuries to the two peacekeepers.
In a separate incident, UNIFIL reported that several blast walls at one of its positions near the Blue Line in Labbouneh collapsed after an Israeli military vehicle struck the perimeter, with tanks moving close by.
UNIFIL warned that these incidents placed their peacekeepers, operating under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), at significant risk.
Earlier, Lebanon’s foreign ministry accused the Israeli military of targeting watchtowers and the main UNIFIL base in Naqura, as well as a Sri Lankan battalion base, resulting in several casualties.