Netanyahu: UN must withdraw south Lebanon peacekeepers from combat zones
PM accuses Hezbollah of using UNIFIL as ‘human shields,’ urges Guterres to get take the forces ‘out of harm’s way,’ far from terror group’s strongholds
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the United Nations to immediately pull its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon from areas where Israel is battling Hezbollah, saying that the terror group is using the international troops as “human shields.”
Netanyahu’s comments came as the UN peacekeeping force said two Israel Defense Forces tanks had entered a United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon position Sunday. The IDF said that the incident took place during an attempt to evacuate wounded IDF soldiers under fire.
In urging that members of UNIFIL be moved out of harm’s way, Netanyahu said that previous similar pleas by Israel had been refused, despite a rising number of injuries to UNIFIL troops.
The international force has already said that it will stay put.
Addressing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language message, “It is time for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat.”
“The IDF has repeatedly asked for this, and has been met with repeated refusals, all aimed at providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists,” he added.
“Mr. Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” Netanyahu said in English.
UNIFIL said the Israeli military “deliberately” hit several UNIFIL posts, including the headquarters at Naqoura. 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.
“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said. “This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.”
Netanyahu said Israel “regrets the injury” to the peacekeepers, and that it is doing whatever it can to prevent such incidents.
“But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is just get them out of the danger zone,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister said that European leaders should be criticizing Hezbollah, not Israel, for using UNIFIL as a “human shield.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned Netanyahu’s call for the removal of UNIFIL soldiers, saying, “The warning that Netanyahu addressed to… Guterres demanding the removal of the UNIFIL represents a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international [norms].”
A short while after Netanyahu’s statement, the IDF responded to UNIFIL’s claim that IDF forces had entered one of its posts in southern Lebanon and fired smoke shells that caused illness among peacekeepers, confirming the incidents and explaining that they took place during attempts to evacuate wounded IDF troops who had come under “massive anti-tank fire.
Two of the soldiers being evacuated were seriously hurt, and several more were lightly or moderately injured, the IDF said.
From an initial investigation, the IDF said, “it appears that during the incident, and for the evacuation, two tanks reversed in a spot where they couldn’t have gone elsewhere because of the threat of fire, several meters into a UNIFIL position.”
“After firing ended and the evacuation of the wounded was completed, the tanks left the position.”
UNIFIL said the tanks were at the post for 45 minutes and that IDF troops had demanded that the base turn out its lights.
Two hours later, UNIFIL said that rounds landed about 100 meters from the camp, emitting smoke that caused skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions in 15 international troops.
The IDF said that smoke screens were laid down to assist the evacuation. “The IDF maintained continuous contact with UNIFIL. Throughout the entire incident, there was no danger to UNIFIL forces from IDF operations,” it said.
The UNIFIL statement added that on Saturday, IDF troops stopped a logistical convoy near Meiss El Jabal and denied it passage, adding, “We have requested an explanation from the IDF for these shocking violations.”
On Sunday, Hezbollah reported it clashed with Israeli forces near Ramyah, and the previous day UNIFIL said its position in the southern Lebanese village had sustained significant damage due to explosions from nearby shelling, without specifying who was responsible for the attack.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the incidents of harm to UNIFIL posts were under investigation, and accused Hezbollah of intentionally firing from the vicinity of UNIFIL posts, according to an Israeli readout of a call between the two.
The US readout said that Austin expressed “deep concern” about reports that Israeli forces had fired on UN peacekeeping positions and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military.
Austin “reinforced the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible,” according to the Pentagon statement released early Sunday.
Also Sunday, Pope Francis asked for “respect” for UN peacekeepers.
“I am close to all the people involved, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, where I ask that the UN peacekeepers be respected,” Francis said at the Vatican and called for “an immediate ceasefire on all fronts, that the paths of diplomacy and dialogue be pursued to achieve peace.”
The remarks came a day after dozens of nations condemned attacks on UNIFIL positions.
The 40 contributing countries “reaffirm our full support for UNIFIL’s mission and activities, whose principal aim is to bring stabilization and lasting peace in South Lebanon as well as in the Middle East,” a statement read.
“We urge the parties of the conflict to respect UNIFIL’s presence, which entails the obligation to guarantee the safety and security of its personnel at all times,” it added.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said Israel had asked the peacekeepers to withdraw from positions “up to five kilometers (three miles) from the Blue Line” separating the two countries, but they refused.
That would have included its 29 positions in the country’s south.
“There was a unanimous decision to stay because it’s important for the UN flag to still fly high in this region, and to be able to report to the Security Council,” he told AFP in an interview.
Before the war escalated in late September, Hezbollah had launched rockets and drones regularly over the border, and Israel had retaliated with airstrikes at the sources of fire, meaning the Blue Helmets had already been spending a lot of time in bunkers, Tenenti said.
“For many months, they have been living in these conditions.”
Despite all this, he said, “the channel of communication is still open with the parties,” Tenenti said.
Michael Higgins, the president of Ireland, which has troops in the mission, had earlier said Israel was “demanding that the entire UNIFIL operating under UN mandates walk away,” which he called “outrageous.”
UNIFIL, which involves about 9,500 troops of some 50 nationalities, is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire that ended the 33-day Second Lebanon War in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Its role was bolstered by UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of that year, which stipulated that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers be deployed in southern Lebanon.
However, that resolution has largely gone unimplemented as Hezbollah entrenched itself in the border area over the past 18 years, storing weapons there, and in recent months, firing countless rockets into Israel and allegedly positioning its forces for a mass invasion of Israel last year.
Last week UNIFIL said that Israeli tank fire caused two Indonesian peacekeepers to fall off a watchtower in Naqura.
The following day, it said explosions close to an observation tower in Naqura 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 Naqura “was hit by gunfire” on Friday night.
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.
Late last month, Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon, aimed at driving Hezbollah away from the border and making it safe for the displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
