UNIFIL urges probe after peacekeeper hurt by Lebanese youths in assault
Indonesian peacekeeper from UN force in Lebanon injured, vehicle damaged on patrol near Israeli border; UNIFIL says attacks violate Resolution 1701 and Lebanese law
The United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in Lebanon called on authorities Thursday to investigate an attack by local youths in the country’s south that has left one of the force’s members wounded.
“A peacekeeper was hurt after a patrol was attacked by a group of young men in Taybeh” near the Israeli border late Wednesday, UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that “a vehicle was also damaged.”
“We call on the Lebanese authorities to undertake a full and swift investigation, and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice,” it said.
The UN force said such “attacks… are not only condemnable, but they are violations of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701 and Lebanese law.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, has sought to maintain calm in southern Lebanon since its creation in 1978, and is currently tasked with enforcing a UN resolution barring armed operations by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah near the ceasefire line that forms the de facto border.
It was bolstered in Resolution 1701 after Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating war in 2006, and its roughly 10,000 peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.
Israel has frequently noted that the resolution is not enforced, as Hezbollah maintains an extensive presence near the Israel border and has carried out numerous attacks daily on northern Israel since the current war against Hamas in Gaza began.
Thursday’s statement said peacekeepers’ freedom of movement “is vital as we work to restore security and stability along the Blue Line,” the frontier demarcated by the UN in 2000 after Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said Wednesday that unidentified individuals stopped and attacked a patrol of the UN force’s Indonesian contingent, breaking car windows and injuring one of the troops.
UN patrols have suffered attacks before in southern Lebanon, a stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Shiite terror group. A shooting in December 2022 killed an Irish peacekeeper.
Since October 7, when war erupted in Gaza after the Hamas terror group’s deadly massacres in Israel, 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.
The UN force has itself been hit by fire, without causing any deaths among peacekeepers.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
