UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon decline to evacuate despite Israeli warnings
The IDF has repeatedly urged UNIFIL troops to move out of the way of its expanding campaign against Hezbollah, News.Az reports citing Euronews .
The UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, has said it will maintain its positions even as the Israeli military repeatedly demands that its troops evacuate the area, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.
The latest refusal comes a day after Israel killed Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar in a strike in Gaza, marking a major turning point in the war that began on 7 October 2023.
Andrea Tenenti of UNIFIL said a “unanimous” decision has been taken to hold the mission’s positions by the 50 countries contributing to the 10,000 person force, as well as the UN Security Council.
More than a third of UNIFIL’s troops are from EU countries.
Tenenti said deteriorating security in recent weeks in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces had forced UNIFIL to suspend most, but not all, of its patrols near the “Blue Line” boundary along the Lebanon-Israel border.
“The IDF has repeatedly targeted our positions, endangering the safety of our troops, in addition to Hezbollah launching rockets toward Israel from near our positions, which also puts our peacekeepers in danger,” Tenenti told a UN news briefing in Geneva by video.
Earlier this month, UNIFIL said an Israeli tank directly fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, knocking down an observation tower and injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers. Germany said on Thursday that a German navy shipdeployed as part of UNIFIL off Lebanon brought down a drone of unknown origin.
