An Israeli army tank directly hit a United Nations observation post, a spokesman said on Thursday. Federal army soldiers are also involved in UNIFIL.
These are the first victims in the ranks of the UNIFIL mission since Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia began around a week ago. When asked, the Israeli army initially did not provide any confirmation or details about the incident.
The UN observer mission has been monitoring the border area for decades. More than 10,000 UN soldiers from around 50 countries are involved, including Austrians. The largest troop contributors include Indonesia, Italy and India.
The shelling took place in Naqoura, in the southern border area with Israel. On the Mediterranean coast, it is the first major town in Lebanon near the demarcation line with Israel. The UNIFIL mission has its headquarters here. The UNIFIL spokesman explained that this area and the surrounding area had been “repeatedly hit”. The two UN soldiers were not seriously injured, but were in hospital after the attack.
UN vehicles and communications system damaged
Another Israeli attack also hit the entrance to a bunker where UN soldiers had sought protection. UN vehicles and a communications system were also damaged.
Israel’s army began a ground offensive in Lebanon a week ago and says it is fighting against the Islamist Hezbollah there. At the same time, the risk of possible clashes with the Lebanese army and UN soldiers is increasing. The Lebanese army is not directly involved in the conflict, but it has also reported fatalities after clashes with Israeli troops.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins, whose country provides more than 300 UN soldiers, had previously sharply criticized Israel’s actions. Israel’s army had threatened the peacekeepers and wanted them to be evacuated, Higgins said a few days ago. Israel is even demanding that the entire UNIFIL mission leave the border area.
UN mission “deeply concerned”
A few days ago, the UN mission had expressed “deep concern” about Israeli military activities “in the immediate vicinity” of one of its posts. She was referring to an attack near Maroun ar-Ras in the border area further east of Naqoura.
A UN insider said Israeli forces fired a tank shell at a UN peacekeepers’ watchtower. This is one of three cases in the past 24 hours in which peacekeeping positions came under Israeli fire. The two UNIFIL members were injured when shots were fired at the watchtower at the force’s main base in Naqoura. There were two other incidents between UNIFIL and Israel on Wednesday and Thursday. There were no victims.
Hezbollah previously said it fired guided missiles at an Israeli tank as it advanced toward the Ras al-Naqoura border area and then fired missiles at an Israeli unit trying to evacuate injured soldiers from the area.
Naqoura is the first major town near the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon. The UNIFIL mission (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) also has its headquarters here. The UN mission has been monitoring the border area for decades.
170 soldiers from Austria
Austria has been part of UNIFIL since 2011. The mission – one of the oldest active ones within the UN – includes a total of around 10,000 soldiers and 800 civilians from more than 40 countries. More than 300 peacekeepers have died since the mission began.
Around 170 soldiers from Austria are responsible for planning and carrying out transports as part of UNIFIL. In 2006, during a similar Israeli offensive, four UN soldiers were killed in shelling of an observation post in southern Lebanon, including Austrian Major Hans Peter Lang.
No one at the Ministry of Defense could initially be reached for comment on the shelling and possible injured Austrians.
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