Unifil warns any attack on peacekeepers violates international law after two fall from observation tower under fire

Two UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been wounded by Israeli fire, the mission said on Thursday, as Israel’s military ground operations in the country continued.

In a statement, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two of its members were wounded after a Merkava tank fired towards an observation tower at Unifil headquarters in Naqoura, “directly hitting it and causing them to fall”.

“[Israeli] soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system,” said the peacekeeping mission.

“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance.”

Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past month, including a bombing campaign and ground invasion, have killed over 1,200 people and displaced one million.

  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
    435·
    2 days ago

    Why are they even there?

    From a real news source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-peacekeepers-lebanon-say-we-are-staying-despite-israeli-attacks-2024-10-10/

    UNIFIL is mandated by the Security Council to help the Lebanese army keep the country’s south free of weapons and armed personnel other than those of the state. That has sparked friction with Hezbollah, which effectively controls the area.

    1. They’re supposed to be Peacekeepers not Peace Makers. There’s a war happening and usually Peacekeepers leave the area when it becomes an active war.

    2. Their mission was to find Hezbollah weapons… well it seems they weren’t all that effective at doing that mission. Anyway, the IDF will remove those weapons for them. So they no longer have a mission to be there to do.

    This is extremely incompetent on the part of the UN. It’s a struggle for the UN to get countries to volunteer soldiers to be UN Peacekeepers. The UN using Peacekeepers as human shields isn’t going to help in that. Peacekeepers serve an important function, and the UN putting them in unnecessary danger because it’s upset at Israel is completely irresponsible.

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      132·
      2 days ago

      Israel targeting Civilians and UN personnel/facilities with the justification of ‘human shields’ is nothing new.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        13·
        5 hours ago

        Because the UN obviously failed to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah were planning to use the weapons the UN failed to take from to attack Israel in a similar way (but on a larger scale) to October 7.

        The Peacekeepers failed to keep the peace. Hezbollah has been firing rockets (which according to the UN, they shouldn’t have) at Israel for a year. Many times at civilian population centers.

        There is no reason for Peacekeepers to stay in a war zone.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        23·
        5 hours ago

        Yeah they’re soldiers, they follow orders. The UN leadership is abdicating it’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the soldiers that countries have generously provided them. So they’re having Peacekeepers that no longer have a missions stay in an obvious warzone because why? The leadership at the UN is acting like children here. They’re putting lives at risk for their own petty reasons.

    • shaserlark@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      7 hours ago

      You’re being downvoted on every post you do about this topic, you’ve been here for a year and you know that pretty much nobody agrees with you. I’m really wondering what’s your agenda.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        14·
        5 hours ago

        Thanks for noticing!

        Also the things I’m saying is consistent with what a majority of people outside of this little echo chamber think. This group you’re in is going descending in a downward spiral of hatred. People in the same hatred spiral you’re in have already committed violent acts, and more have attempted violence. This hatred of Israel will not lead to anything positive. Nothing good for the Palestinian people will come from this hatred.

        I see photos of Gaza and I see a lot of similarity with the photos of German cities at the end of WWII. Germans were so indoctrinated in the politics of hatred (the same politics people here are engaging in) that the refused to accept defeat even when it was obvious to anyone. So they fought to the bitter end for the politics they were too indoctrinated in to accept reality and it destroyed their country.

        Unlike the German people, I fear that because of outside pressure Palestinians may not be able to escape the politics of hatred even after they’ve experienced the destruction it lead to. Too much outside pressure on Palestinians (primarily from Iran, but you can see it even in the rhetoric here) to continue dying for the interests of others rather than negotiating with Israel to get as much as they can for themselves.

        The real tragedy of this is that even if there was a ceasefire agreement tomorrow, a conflict similar to this will probably happen again for the next generation. It won’t be because of people like me that call for Hamas to surrender. It’ll be because of the people like you that “disagree with me” who push for Arabs to continue dying to serve the interests of Iranians.

        Someone has to tell the truth around here, no matter how unpopular it may be.