UN peacekeepers to 'stay in all positions' in Lebanon

 

United Nations peacekeepers will stay in all positions in Lebanon despite Israeli calls for them to move amid intensifying fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and five blue helmets suffering injuries, the UN peacekeeping chief said Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday again called for the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to move from certain areas close to Israel's border with Lebanon, insisting it was "completely false" that Israeli forces targeted the UN force, UNIFIL.

Israel has faced severe criticism over injuries and damage sustained by the UN peacekeeping force, which has been deployed in Lebanon since the first of Israel's four major ground offensives against its neighbor in 1978.

"The decision was made that UNIFIL would currently stay in all its positions in spite of the calls that were made by the Israel Defense Forces to vacate the positions that are in the vicinity of the Blue Line," said UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

"I want to emphasize that this decision still remains," he said, adding that the plan was confirmed earlier Monday by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Five peacekeepers were injured in a series of incidents last week, with the latest seeing the UN force accuse Israeli troops of breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions.

The Israeli military later said a tank "backed several meters into a UNIFIL post" while "under fire" and attempting to evacuate injured soldiers.

The UN Security Council for the first time unanimously voiced "strong concerns" Monday after the string of incidents.

"Against the backdrop of ongoing hostilities along the Blue Line, the members of the Security Council expressed their strong concerns after several UNIFIL positions came under fire in the past days," said the council's rotating presidency, currently Switzerland's UN ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl.

"Several peacekeepers have been wounded."

In the statement, which did not single out Israel, the 15 council members "urged all parties to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises. They recalled that UN peacekeepers and UN premises must never be the target of an attack."

The council's intervention followed two closed meetings on the deteriorating situation in Lebanon.

Under Security Council Resolution 1701, only UNIFIL's roughly 9,500 troops and Lebanon's army should be deployed in Lebanon's south.