The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, denounced this Sunday 13 attacks that injured members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanonamid the advance of Israeli forces against the Hezbollah.
“Unifil staff and its facilities should never be the target of attacks,” said Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, referring to the organization’s blue helmets in Lebanon. “Attacks against peacekeepers violate international law… May constitute a war crime.”
“In a very worrying incident that occurred today, the entry door to a UN position was deliberately breached by armored vehicles from the United Nations Defense Forces. Israel“, added the spokesperson.
Five peacekeepers have been injured in recent days in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Dujarric called on “all parties, including Israeli forces, to avoid any and all actions that endanger” peacekeepers.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahutoday asked Guterres to move the members of the peacekeeping mission deployed in southern Lebanon away from the “path of danger”, stating that Hezbollah uses them as “human shields”. Unifil did not abandon its positions.
