UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say Israel has fired on their bases deliberately

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said that an Israeli tank fired on an observation tower in the force’s headquarters in Naqoura just north of the Lebanese border, causing two Indonesian peacekeepers to fall off it.

“The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital,” a Unifil statement said, adding that deliberate attacks on UN peacekeepers was a “grave violation” of international law.

Unifil said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers also fired at a UN observation post at Labbouneh a few hundred metres from the border, “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system”.
...
“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance,” it said. “Yesterday, IDF soldiers deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras,”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/10/un-peacekeepers-in-lebanon-say-israel-has-fired-on-their-bases-deliberately

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Another line dangerously crossed in Lebanon, says EU

In response, the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says "another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon".

"We condemn this inadmissible act, for which there is no justification," Borrell says.

"Two blue helmets have been wounded and this is unacceptable. Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of the UNSC (UN Security Council) Resolution 1701: Israel has an obligation to respect both. Full accountability is needed."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr54lyg2j8zt?post=asset%3Ad21e9fe1-f55e-42ba-953a-0ae4129bc437#post

Also:

Strike that killed health workers in south Lebanon hit church grounds, says priest

Earlier we reported on the deaths of five health workers in an Israeli strike in Derdghaiya, southern Lebanon last night.

The government-run Lebanese Civil Defence emergency service says the five workers were waiting in a makeshift centre in a church hall in the southern town of Derdghaiya when it was hit by an Israeli air strike.
...
Father Maurice adds that parishioners and villagers tell him there was no military presence on church grounds, and no gunmen in the vicinity. He says he doesn’t know how the health workers “would have a target on their backs?"

Father Maurice, who left the village on 22 September right before the Israeli escalation, says the health workers killed were looking after the 200-400 displaced people seeking shelter there.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr54lyg2j8zt?post=asset%3Aa7c23b70-fc18-4eb1-b284-0d251d041015#post

[Dave Bowman]

1. K&R

[moniss]

2. The big middle finger of Netanyahu and it really is

long past time for the General Assembly to begin debate on asking Israel to withdraw as a member nation of the UN. Nearly constant refusal to comply with Resolutions, fact finding for monitoring and investigations etc. has run it's course. Because there has never been meaningful repercussions for that behavior it has emboldened the right wing in Israel to feel that the only thing that will happen for transgressions and injury to UN personnel and NGO staff is words of displeasure. Enough already after all these decades.

[EX500rider]

3. Maybe if the UN actually passed some other resolutions about other countries

Last edited Thu Oct 10, 2024, 06:16 PM - Edit history (1)

From 2015 through 2022, the UN General Assembly has adopted 140 resolutions on Israel and 68 on all other countries.

So they're the worst country in the world huh worse than North Korea China Iran Cuba Venezuela Etc
lol

[moniss]

6. Nowhere in the OP or my response

were any of us referencing other countries. For the record I am on record decrying the conduct of a whole bunch of countries and groups.

[Aussie105]

12. North Korea China Iran Cuba Venezuela?

Not too many of those countries are actively at war with several of their neighbours, like Israel is, as far as I know.

Those two numbers aren't comparable though.

Those aimed at Israel: Please stop your indiscriminate killing of civilians!

The others are more likely: Respect the human rights of your citizens!

[EX500rider]

20. All those resolutions were passed before the current War

[LymphocyteLover]

15. this hardly excuses Israel firing on and almost killing UN peacekeepers...in fact it's this sort of action that inspires

all the resolutions condemning Israel.

But never fear, Israel's big daddy the US will always keep them from suffering any real consequences for their misdeeds.

[quakerboy]

4. if you can try to sink US ships with no consequences

Last edited Fri Oct 11, 2024, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

And kill dozens of us military personnel, again with no consequences.. lets be honest, attacking the UN is a minor concern at most.

[Aussie105]

13. A word missing in your header?

NT

[iemanja]

5. I just got an email from Foreign Policy about this

And they didn't present it as from the perspective of Lebanon but as fact.

Israeli forces fired on several positions used by United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday. According to the Lebanese mission, known as UNIFIL, Israeli soldiers targeted its headquarters at Ras Naqoura, “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system.”

Two peacekeepers from Indonesia were injured. “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL said, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military, which also “deliberately fired at and disabled” U.N.-operated perimeter-monitoring cameras. Israel has not commented on the incidents.

UNIFIL was established in 1978 and expanded following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Its focus is to secure the Lebanese side of the 75-mile Blue Line, a de facto border between the two nations that U.N. Resolution 1701 says no one can fire or move across without permission from the Lebanese government. More than 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in the area.

[moniss]

7. It should also be noted that

the IDF "ordered" the UNIFIL outposts to retreat just a couple of days ago as I recall. The command of UNIFIL and several of the individual countries said no. I long expected the potshots at UNIFIL to happen.

[iemanja]

8. Since when do UN peacekeepers

Fall under the command structure of the IDF? They don’t. Israel broke international law—again.

[Prairie Gates]

9. They don't...neither do the civilian populations of sovereign nations

who are also fired on if they fail to heed IDF orders forcibly removing them from their homes. The IDF has no jurisdiction or legal standing in Lebanon, period, much less to command UN peacekeeping forces deployed under a UN mandate to remove themselves from a UN area. These are the actions of petty warlords. The IDF is behaving like two bit Sudanese militias, essentially.

[moniss]

14. Nobody ever said they did. I think you misinterpret

my comment. I noted it as simply a preceding event to the attacks. I mentioned it in a separate post several days ago.

democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1253&pid=1482

[iemanja]

17. You said the IDF "ordered" them

and noted that they failed to comply, as though that justified the attack.

[moniss]

19. That is what they in fact did and the UN told them no and

there is no need to read more into what I said. Take it at face value. But if you wanted to try to glean anything further from what I said I used the word "potshots" which would not be a word that has "positive" connotations as though something is a defensible military maneuver. I also posted today about the second attack that took place today. If you read it I doubt you could think that I somehow "support" or "justify" what the IDF has done.

[iemanja]

21. Thanks for the clarification

Would you mind giving me the link to the post about the second attack?

[moniss]

22. Glad to and the IDF went even further

and broke down some perimeter walls at another camp. Not much in our US media on this but the countries with soldiers in those camps are pretty PO'd about this.

democraticunderground.com/12531489

[Prairie Gates]

16. From Crosetto today

Unifil, Crosetto: "Siamo in Libano e ci rimaniamo, l'Italia non prende ordini da nessuno"

You don't need to know the language to understand what he's saying here!

[NickB79]

10. Hezbollah actually KILLED a UN peacekeeper last year

The UN did nothing, and the Lebanese government released him on bond.

https://apnews.com/article/lebanon-hezbollah-unifil-peacekeeper-ireland-fb034fc88016f31b797cbf2446e67ef8

The same UN soldiers who did nothing for 18 years to enforce the 2006 demilitarization zone that Hezbollah was supposed to stay out of, but instead built miles of tunnels and weapons depots in to lob missiles at Israeli civilians.

[C0RI0LANUS]

11. Irish UNIFIL soldier KIA, three WIA in unplanned attack last year

PVT Sean Rooney (23), an Irish member of UNIFIL, was killed and three others wounded last year when their vehicle was separated from its convoy at night and attacked by a mob with stones. Mohammed Ayad, on the spur of the moment, opened fire on the UNIFIL vehicle with a machine gun.

Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) found Ayad and turned him over to the Lebanese military for tribunal. Charges were brought against the killer, and seven other villagers, including attempted murder, sabotaging a military vehicle, and threatening by shooting in the air.

Source:

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2227221/middle-east

[demmiblue]

18. ...

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. UN peacekeepers in Lebanon report blasts at HQ for second day running

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has reported new blasts at its headquarters which injured two Sri Lankan members of the force, a day after the same base came under Israeli tank fire.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said the explosions on Friday hit the base in Naqoura near an observation tower, but did not specify the source of the attack. It said in a statement that one of the wounded peacekeepers had been taken to hospital in the southern coastal town of Tyre, while the second was treated at the Naqoura base.

Unifil also said an Israeli military bulldozer had destroyed part of the concrete perimeter of one of its observation positions on the Israeli-Lebanese boundary as tanks moved alongside, and that it had sent a reaction force to reinforce the position.
...
Joe Biden, the US president, said he was asking Israel to not hit UN peacekeepers in its conflict with Hezbollah, and the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told Israel that attacks on the peacekeeping force were intolerable.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/11/un-peacekeepers-in-lebanon-report-blasts-at-hq-for-second-day-running