Defying Israel, UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon insists it is staying put
Security Council expresses concern over incidents in which UNIFIL troops were hurt, doesn’t single out Israel; Netanyahu says claims IDF targeting Blue Helmets ‘completely false’
United Nations peacekeepers insisted they would stay in all positions in Lebanon Monday, defying Israeli calls for them to move amid intensifying fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has wounded five blue helmets and sparked international condemnation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called Monday for the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to move from certain areas near the Israeli border, while dismissing as “completely false” claims that Israeli forces targeted the UN force known as UNIFIL.
Israel has faced severe criticism over injuries and damage sustained in recent days by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which has been deployed in Lebanon since the first of Israel’s four major ground offensives against its neighbor in 1978, but which Israel says has done little to uphold its mandate of keeping armed members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah away from southern Lebanon.
“The decision was made that UNIFIL would currently stay in all its positions in spite of the calls that were made by the Israel Defense Forces to vacate the positions that are in the vicinity of the Blue Line,” said UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
“I want to emphasize that this decision still remains,” he said, adding that the plan was confirmed earlier Monday by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
At least five UNIFIL soldiers have been lightly injured in a spate of recent incidents that have also included shootings that the UN did not attribute to either Israel or Hezbollah.
On Sunday the UN force accused Israeli troops of breaking into one of their positions with a tank. The Israeli military later said a tank “backed several meters into a UNIFIL post” while “under fire” and attempting to evacuate injured soldiers.
Netanyahu on Monday said Israel had “repeatedly asked UNIFIL to get out of harm’s way.”
“It repeatedly asked them to temporarily leave the combat zone, which is right next to Israel’s border with Lebanon,” he said in an English-language video published by his office.
Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of using UNIFIL positions as cover while it attacks Israel.
“Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah and will continue to do so,” he said, adding that Israel is doing everything it can to prevent harm to UNIFIL soldiers.
“But the best way to assure the safety of UNIFIL personnel is for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s request and to temporarily get out of harm’s way,” he said.
Later, UNIFIL’s mission spokesperson posted a video message on X, saying “We are staying. We are in the south of Lebanon under a security council mandate, so it’s important to keep an international presence and to keep the UN flag in the area.”
“There were some deliberate attacks against our troops…and the parties have an obligation to protect peacekeepers and ensure the safety and security of our troops,” Andrea Tenenti said.
In New York, the UN Security Council for the first time unanimously voiced “strong concerns” Monday over the string of incidents, but avoided singling out Israel.
“Against the backdrop of ongoing hostilities along the Blue Line, the members of the Security Council expressed their strong concerns after several UNIFIL positions came under fire in the past days,” said the council’s rotating presidency, currently Switzerland’s UN ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl.
The 15 council members “urged all parties to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises,” according to a statement following two closed-door meetings on the deteriorating situation in Lebanon.
The Security Council also called for the full implementation of its resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006 with the aim of keeping peace on the border after the last major war between Israel and Hezbollah. The resolution tasked UNIFIL with helping ensure south Lebanon is kept off limits to both Hezbollah and Israel.
The council “recognized the need for further practical measures to achieve that outcome,” but did not offer specifics.
Earlier, a joint statement from Britain, France, Germany and Italy expressed “deep concern in the wake of recent attacks by IDF on UNIFIL bases. These attacks must stop immediately.”
“Any deliberate attack against UNIFIL goes against international humanitarian law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” they added.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell echoed the criticism, saying “such attacks… constitute a grave violation of international law and are totally unacceptable.
The EU “expresses particularly grave concern regarding the attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces against UNIFIL, which left several peacekeepers wounded,” he added.
On Sunday, the Israeli military took foreign journalists into southern Lebanon and showed them a Hezbollah tunnel shaft that was less than 200 meters (650 feet) from a UNIFIL position, as well as weapon stashes that the troops found.
“We are actually standing in a military base of Hezbollah very close to the UN,” Brig. Gen. Yiftach Norkin said, pointing to the shaft’s trapdoor in an area covered by undergrowth and overlooked by a UN observation post.
Since announcing its ground operation near the border, the Israeli military says that it has destroyed dozens of Hezbollah tunnel shafts, rocket launchers and command posts Hezbollah had built up over the years in preparation for attacks on Israel, much of it under UNIFIL’s nose.
It launched the offensive against Hezbollah late last month after a year of intensifying rocket, drone and missile fire at northern Israeli towns and military positions by the Iran-backed group, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
Israel says its ground operation in southern Lebanon is limited to the border region and aimed at driving Hezbollah away from the frontier and making it safe for the displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
At the UN Monday, Lacroix claimed UNIFIL was not responsible for keeping Hezbollah military infrastructure away from the Israeli border.
“We have to stand against … every suggestion that if Resolution 1701 was not implemented it’s because UNIFIL did not implement, which was never its mandate,” he said.
The Security Council authorized UNIFIL under Resolution 1701 “to assist” Lebanese forces in ensuring southern Lebanon is “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon.”
Netanyahu on Sunday said UNIFIL’s refusal to evacuate served Hezbollah, which he accused of seeking to use the UN peacekeepers as “human shields.”
“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said in a video addressing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.”
Last week UNIFIL said that Israeli tank fire caused two Indonesian peacekeepers to fall off a watchtower in Naqoura, where the force is headquartered. Israel said it fired at a Hezbollah target near the position.
The following day, it said explosions close to an observation tower in Naqoura wounded two Sri Lankan Blue Helmets, while Israel said it had responded to an “immediate threat” near a UN peacekeeping position.
On Saturday, UNIFIL said a peacekeeper in Naqoura “was hit by gunfire” of an unknown origin the night before.
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 its ally Hamas amid the war in Gaza following the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
Some 60,000 residents of northern Israel were evacuated from towns near the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.