Amid ongoing heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in south Lebanon, the only external troops which have long been present on the ground are a group of UN peacekeeping troops. They are a mainly Irish contingency, called the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and have remained near the Israel-Lebanon border since the 2006 war.
The UN peacekeepers have been increasingly alarmed over the Israeli army setting up forward bases in areas near their operations, and this week the Israeli government alerted the UN troops they must move positions or risk coming under fire.
That appears to have happened this week. On Thursday the UNIFIL force said its headquarters came under fire by the Israeli army and that two of its troops were wounded. The UN team had refused Israeli army (IDF) demands to evacuate its position further north, setting up for a bloody standoff as tanks moved in.
"The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital," said UNIFIL in its statement. UNIFIL is further calling the fresh incident "very serious" given the IDF "deliberately fired" on its positions.
The UN HQ is located in the village of Labbouneh, and its team said IDF fire hit "the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system."
The statement warned that "targeting peacekeepers is a very serious violation, not only of Resolution 1701 but also of international humanitarian law." Monitoring cameras have also been destroyed. The Israeli action reportedly involved several tanks.
"If the situation becomes impossible for the mission to operate in the south of Lebanon … it will be up to the Security Council to decide how to move forward," the UN said. Israel's military did not issue immediate comment.
Days prior, UNIFIL said it is "deeply concerned by recent activities by the IDF immediately adjacent to the Mission's position 6-52, southeast of Maroun al-Ras... inside Lebanese territory."
Italy is among countries contributing to the UN mission who are outraged, and its government summoned the Israeli ambassador in Rome. "The shooting at the UNIFIL headquarters" which involved "small arms fire" is "intolerable, they must be carefully and decisively avoided," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto Crosetto said in a statement.
Ireland too has issued formal protest and is livid:
Two United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been wounded after an Israeli tank directly hit a UN observation tower, prompting outrage from troop-contributing nations.
Italy, which leads the 10,000-strong peacekeeping force along the Lebanon-Israel border, said firing on UN bases broke international law, and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Ireland, which contributes several hundred soldiers to the force, said targeting peacekeepers was “reprehensible and unacceptable”.
Typically in any UN Security Council vote which seeks to censure Israel for military actions, the United States is among the lone vetoes. Washington has rarely spoken up in defense or support of the UN peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon. The UNIFIL force was establish all the way back in 1978, in connection with Israeli incursions into Lebanon, and related to the events of the Lebanese civil war of the latter part of the 20th century.