Andrea Teneti confirmed on Thursday evening local time that two Unifil soldiers had been injured during shelling. Some of the surveillance equipment has also been destroyed.
“This is clearly one of the most serious incidents we have witnessed in the past 12 months,” Teneti told Reuters, referring to the exchange of gunfire between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militia.
Will be in the mail
UNIFIL‘s 50 participating countries agreed on Thursday to keep the force of more than 10,000 men deployed between the Litani River in Lebanon, in the far north of the UN area, and the UN-approved border between Lebanon and Israel, known as the Blue Line.
– We are here because the Security Council has asked us to. So we will stay until the situation makes it hopeless to carry out the mission, says Teneti.
Unifil says an Israeli tank opened fire on an observation tower near the force’s headquarters in Naqoura. The tower was hit, and two men fell out. Israeli forces also fired at a nearby position, destroying cars and communications equipment, Unifil said in a statement.
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Unifil claims that Israeli soldiers deliberately opened fire on cameras monitoring the area.
Unifil has a mandate from the UN to assist the Lebanese army in its efforts to keep the southern part of the country free of weapons and armed groups that are not part of the army. This has created friction with the Hezbollah militia, which precisely has its core areas in the south.
Israel admits to having been active in the area on Thursday, but claims that Unifil was told to remain calm in protected zones before the shooting began.
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