UNIFIL says forces came under Israeli fire in southern Lebanon

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon claims that the Israeli military fired on its observers from an IDF post inside southern Lebanon this morning.

According to UNIFIL, machine gun rounds fired from an IDF tank “hit approximately five meters from the peacekeepers, who were on foot and had to take shelter in the terrain.”

“Peacekeepers asked for the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels. They were able to leave safely thirty minutes later, when the Merkava tank withdrew inside the IDF position,” the observer force says, adding that nobody was injured.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.

In recent weeks, UNIFIL has made an increasing number of complaints against the IDF.

Israel has long argued that the observer force has failed in its mission, doing little to block Hezbollah from building up its forces near the Israeli border over decades.