Israel has demanded that the force, known as UNIFIL, pull out. But all the countries contributing troops and the U.N. Security Council decided unanimously that UNIFIL should stay.
U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon have experienced a series of deliberate attacks by the Israeli military in recent days, but the peacekeeping force will maintain its positions along the border despite Israeli pressure to withdraw, according to a spokesman for the force, known as UNIFIL.
The UNIFIL spokesman, Andrea Tenenti, told reporters by video link from Beirut on Friday that the Israeli military had “repeatedly targeted our positions, endangering the safety of our troops.” He added that Hezbollah was also endangering the peacekeeping troops by launching rockets near their positions into Israel. UNIFIL has 10,000 troops from 50 countries occupying 29 positions close to the border between Israel and Lebanon, where they monitor the conflict and try to coordinate deliveries of humanitarian aid to the civilians remaining in southern Lebanon.
Israel has accused the U.N. peacekeepers of acting as a shield for Hezbollah and demanded that they pull out. But all the countries contributing troops to the force and the U.N. Security Council decided unanimously that the force should remain in all positions, according to Mr. Tenenti.
“I think the role of UNIFIL at the moment is more important than ever,” he said.
Mr. Teneti also said that UNIFIL had found “a trace of a possible use” of white phosphorus close to a peacekeeper position, but lacked capacity to investigate reports of wider use in Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon. The material can inflict serious burns and munitions using it are banned by international conventions from use against targets close to civilian population. A UNIFIL commander accused Israel last year of directly hitting a peacekeeping position with white phosphorus munitions.
Peacekeepers have come “under deliberate attack” five times as Israeli forces pursue their assault on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Mr. Tenenti said. Among the incidents reported since Oct. 10, an Israeli tank opened fire on a UNIFIL observation tower that Mr. Tenenti said was occupied by Serbian peacekeepers on Wednesday, damaging the tower and destroying two cameras.
In other cases in the past week, two Israeli tanks forced their way into a UNIFIL site, staying for 45 minutes, and two peacekeepers were injured six days ago when an Israeli tank fired at an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, on Lebanon’s southernmost Mediterranean coast.
Israel has denied targeting the U.N. peacekeepers. Mr. Tenenti insisted otherwise.
“What happened is clear deliberate targeting of peacekeepers because there was no one else around,” he said, adding that no other exchanges of fire were underway at the time.
