Argentina pulls out of UNIFIL as rockets hit southern Lebanon peacekeeping mission
Blue Helmets say rocket fired ‘most likely by non-state actors’ hits base, injuring 4 Ghanaian soldiers; base workshop damaged in 2nd incident; IDF says Hezbollah to blame for both
GENEVA, Switzerland — Argentina is pulling its troops from a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, a UNIFIL spokesperson said on Tuesday, as Blue Helmets reported several attacks on their positions, injuring four peacekeepers and damaging a base. The IDF said Hezbollah was responsible for both incidents.
The move by Argentina appeared to represent the first sign of cracks in the unity of the mission, which has been caught in the crossfire as Israel battles against Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
The 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the demarcation line with Israel, an area where there have been hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group for over a year.
“Argentina has asked its officers to go back (to Argentina),” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in response to a question about a newspaper report.
He declined to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government.
Argentina is one of 48 countries contributing peacekeepers to UNIFIL, with a total of three staff currently in Lebanon, a UN website showed. Buenos Aires did not immediately respond to Tenenti’s comments.
UNIFIL has previously referred to “unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels.”
Iran-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israel daily from Lebanon since October 8 of last year. The Israel Defense Forces stepped up operations against the terror group in September.
Peacekeepers have refused to leave their posts despite more than 20 injuries in the past two months and damage to facilities which UNIFIL has either blamed on the Israeli military or “non-state actors,” usually meant to denote Hezbollah, or not attributed responsibility for.
On Tuesday, UNIFIL reported that its positions were hit in three separate incidents.
Four Ghanaian peacekeepers were injured when a rocket fired “most likely by non-State actors within Lebanon” hit their base east of the village of Ramyeh, UNIFIL said in a statement.
Three of the soldiers were transferred to a hospital in Tyre, it reported.
The IDF said a review showed the rocket had been part of a Hezbollah barrage aimed at Israel.
UNIFIL also said that five rockets hit its base in Shama, causing heavy damage to a workshop but no injuries.
The IDF said that the UNIFIL position was hit by several rockets launched by Hezbollah from the Maaliyeh area. The rockets were likely aimed at IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon. Last week, Hezbollah claimed to have attacked Israeli forces on the outskirts of Shama.
Italy’s defense ministry said that the rockets that hit Shama were fired by Hezbollah, after its minister had initially blamed Israel.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in Brussels that Israeli forces staged the attack but a defense ministry source said that Crosetto “did not have the right information” when he spoke.
“Hezbollah was responsible for the attack,” the source told AFP.
The peacekeeping force also said an “armed person” opened fire on a patrol northeast of the village of Khirbat Silim, without injury.
UNIFIL said it launched investigations into each of the incidents.
“UNIFIL once again reminds all actors involved in the ongoing hostilities to respect the inviolability of United Nations peacekeepers and premises,” it said in the statement. “The pattern of regular attacks – direct or indirect – against peacekeepers must end immediately.”
Israel has denied deliberately targeting UNIFIL, and has asked the peacekeeping force to pull back to allow the IDF to operate against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, accusing the terror group of using Blue Helmets as a human shield. UNIFIL has rejected the request.
Tenenti said there was no broader indication that others might follow Argentina’s departure.
“The idea is to stay. So there is no discussion of withdrawing at all,” he said.
He admitted that UNIFIL monitoring activities were “very, very limited” because of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and repairs to some of its facilities.
“We’re still working on fixing some of the positions, but this has been definitely a very difficult moment, because we’ve been deliberately attacked by the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) in recent months, and we’re doing our utmost to rebuild the areas,” he said.
The IDF did not immediately comment on Tenenti’s remarks.
Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there, which began when the Hamas terror group launched its cross-border onslaught into southern Israel the previous day.
