4 United Nations army observers have been wounded Saturday whereas patrolling the southern Lebanese border after a shell exploded close to them, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon mentioned.
The army observers are a part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Group, which helps the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL.
Native Lebanese media, citing safety officers, mentioned an Israeli drone strike focused the observers within the southern village of Wadi Katmoun close to the border city of Rmeich. Hezbollah-run tv station Al-Manar mentioned the drone strike wounded three officers from Australia, Chile, and Norway, in addition to a Lebanese interpreter.
The Israeli army on social media platform X, previously Twitter, mentioned: “Opposite to the studies, the IDF didn’t strike a @UNIFIL —car within the space of Rmeish this morning.”
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti mentioned they’re “investigating the origin of the explosion.”
“The concentrating on of peacekeepers is unacceptable,” Tenenti informed The Related Press. “We repeat our name for all actors to stop the present heavy exchanges of fireside earlier than extra individuals are unnecessarily harm.”
This got here as clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah militants escalated in current weeks. Either side have been exchanging hearth because the Israel-Hamas warfare in Gaza broke out, propelling issues that the near-daily clashes alongside the border might escalate right into a full-scale warfare as tens of hundreds of individuals have been displaced by the violence.
UNIFIL was created to supervise the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 warfare between Israel and Hezbollah, permitting peacekeepers to deploy alongside the Israeli border to assist the Lebanese army lengthen its authority into the nation’s south for the primary time in many years.
