The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Friday that the Israeli military had dropped grenades near its peacekeepers in south Lebanon the day before, urging the army to stop such attacks.
UNIFIL peacekeepers have been working with the Lebanese army to support a November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah that culminated in two months of open war.
The latest incident comes a month after UNIFIL said Israeli drones had dropped four grenades near peacekeepers, with Israel insisting at the time that there was “no intentional fire” directed at the force on that occasion.
“Yesterday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped grenades near peacekeepers working alongside Lebanese soldiers to provide security for civilian workers” in Maroun al-Ras near the Israeli border, a UNIFIL statement said Friday, adding that nobody was hurt.
The workers “were trying to clear the ruins of homes destroyed due to the war”, and peacekeepers had informed the Israeli army of the activity in advance, UNIFIL added.
In one incident, the statement said, two groups of peacekeepers “heard a grenade explode near an excavator” around 500 metres (yards) away.
“Moments later, the first group saw a drone fly overhead and witnessed an explosion about 30-40 metres away,” it added.
Soon after, “the second group saw another drone drop a grenade that exploded just 20 metres over their heads”.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, Hezbollah and Israel were both required to withdraw from south Lebanon, while UNIFIL deployed there alongside the Lebanese military, in part to help dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.
Israel has kept up regular strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets despite the truce, and has maintained its troops in five locations it deems strategic.
UNIFIL said Friday’s attack demonstrated disregard for peacekeepers “and the stability they are working to restore”.
“Such actions also constitute a serious violation of (United Nations) Security Council resolution 1701,” it added, referring to a resolution that ended a 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and formed the basis of the November ceasefire.
The statement urged the Israeli army “to cease attacks on or near peacekeepers, civilians, and Lebanese soldiers and allow us to carry out our mandated tasks without obstruction”.
UNIFIL has been deployed since 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon, and numbers some 10,000 personnel from almost 50 countries.
In August, the Security Council voted to end UNIFIL’s mission in 2027.
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© Agence France-Presse
