American President Joe Biden is ready to ask Israel to stop attacks against Unifil. “Absolutely yes,” the White House owner replied to journalists who asked him if he would intervene in this regard. A few hours before Biden’s words, the Unifil bases came under Israeli fire for the second day in a row and two other peacekeepers, this time of Sri Lankan nationality, were injured. “The UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura was hit by explosions”, the UN mission said, adding that the two peacekeepers were involved in two explosions “which occurred near an observation tower”. Unifil added that “several T-walls in our UN position 1-31, near the Blue Line in Labbouneh, fell when an IDF caterpillar hit the perimeter and IDF tanks moved in close proximity to the UN position “. Position 1-31 is one of those manned by Italian military personnel, already hit previously by the IDF. But the Ministry of Defense, in a note, “categorically denied” the news regarding an “alleged third attack against the Italian Unifil bases in Lebanon”, adding that “activities relating to restoration work on the previously damaged”, carried out in full coordination and agreement between the Italian units of Unifil, IDF and Lebanese forces. Events which, in any case, increase tensions between Tel Aviv and Rome.
What happened “is not acceptable, it violates the provisions of United Nations resolution 1701”, reiterated the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, explaining that the government is following the situation of the Italian contingent in Lebanon “with great attention”. In a joint statement with Emmanuel Macron and Pedro Sanchez, Meloni and the leaders of Paris and Madrid said they count on “Israel’s commitment to the security of the UN and bilateral peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, as well as the international organizations active in the region “. “We continue to send clear messages to the government of Israel that Italian soldiers do not touch each other” underlined the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. “I asked my Israeli colleagues: what happens next time? Do we have to respond?” it was instead the provocative observation of the head of the Defense, Guido Crosetto.
The IDF announced an “in-depth” investigation to shed light on the Naqoura incident and spoke of peacekeepers “inadvertently injured during combat with Hezbollah“. According to the first results of the investigation, the IDF itself specified, the Tel Aviv troops had identified a threat about 50 meters from the Unifil position and returned fire, ending up hitting the UN mission position and wounding the two peacekeepers. The Israeli embassy in Italy, for its part, accused Hezbollah of having “installed, undisturbed, its military capabilities near the Unifil bases. Hezbollah has long attacked Israel by operating near these bases”. The diplomatic representation of the Jewish State also announced a meeting between the military attaché of Tel Aviv and “the leaders of the Italian army to illustrate the details of the investigation” into the latest incidents. At an international level, the attacks on Unifil have sparked a wave of condemnations. The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said he was “horrified” by the incident. “We condemn it, we do not tolerate it and we will not tolerate it happening again,” thundered Emmanuel Macron. “The attack on UN peacekeepers is in no way acceptable,” Berlin commented. In a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Tel Aviv to guarantee “the security of the Unifil forces”. The incident with Unifil occurred as part of the vast Israeli operation in Lebanon against Hezbollah which, in the last few hours, led to the death of two soldiers from the Land of Cedars in an air raid that targeted a military center in Kafra. In the West Bank, meanwhile, the IDF announced that it had eliminated the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Muhammad Abdullah, in a raid on the Nur Shamas refugee camp.
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