Three United Nations observers and a translator sustained injuries due to shelling in Rmeish, located in southern Lebanon, according to a statement from the UN peacekeeping force. While Lebanon’s official news agency attributed the explosion to an Israeli drone attack, the Israeli military has refuted these claims, denying any involvement.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is actively investigating the cause of the explosion and has confirmed that the injured individuals are currently receiving medical treatment. This incident occurs amidst escalating tensions along the contentious Israel-Lebanon boundary.
UNIFIL detailed that the incident took place near a patrol on foot along the Blue Line, a boundary established by the UN to separate southern Lebanon from Israel. The peacekeeping mission condemned the attack on its peacekeepers as “indefensible.”
Andrea Tenenti, a UNIFIL spokesperson, expressed concerns to the BBC about the increasing frequency of attacks targeting areas deep within Lebanon, warning of the potential for a broader conflict. The nationalities of the observers and details regarding their health status remain undisclosed, though the Lebanese translator is reported to be in stable condition.
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In response to allegations of an Israeli drone strike injuring the observers in southern Lebanon, Israel’s military issued a denial, emphasizing that there was no IDF operation targeting a UNIFIL vehicle in Rmeish.
Recent days have seen a resurgence of hostilities along the Israel-Lebanon border, resulting in casualties on both sides. Tenenti highlighted the concerning shift of violent exchanges occurring well beyond the proximity of the Blue Line into Lebanese territory.
The backdrop to these tensions includes frequent exchanges of fire across the border between Israel and Hezbollah, a dynamic that intensified following the onset of the Israel-Gaza conflict, which began with a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Hezbollah, identified as a Lebanese Shia Muslim militant group, maintains close connections with Iran and supports Hamas.
Following an increase in hostilities, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced plans for the IDF to intensify operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, aiming to transition from defensive actions to offensive operations against the group.
Concurrently, Israel faces scrutiny from the United States over a proposed large-scale ground offensive in Gaza’s Rafah region, adjacent to Egypt. This area is home to over a million displaced persons. The Biden administration in the US has voiced concerns over the rising civilian casualties in Gaza and the impediments to humanitarian access in the region, which is reportedly on the brink of famine.
Adding to the tension, the IDF acknowledged the killing and subsequent burial with a bulldozer of two Palestinian men in Gaza under the suspicion of carrying explosives, an act that has been widely discussed following Al Jazeera’s publication of a related video. The Israeli military defended its actions by stating the individuals were deemed suspicious and did not heed a warning shot.
