Israel hits UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, bombs Beirut

U.N. peacekeeper base in Yarine, Lebanon

(Image credit: Daniel Carde / Getty Images)

What happened

Israeli forces have fired at three United Nations positions in Lebanon since Wednesday, injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Thursday. Tensions between the Israeli Defense Forces and UNIFIL have increased since Israel launched a ground invasion last week, escalating the country's fight against Hezbollah. Israeli airstrikes hit a crowded neighborhood in central Beirut yesterday, leveling an eight-story residential building and leaving 22 people dead and 117 wounded, said Lebanon's Health Ministry. Lebanese media said the strike was an unsuccessful attempt to kill another high-ranking Hezbollah official, Wafiq Safa.

Who said what

The IDF has "repeatedly hit" UNIFIL positions, including an observation tower at peacekeeper headquarters in Naqoura, striking the "entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering" and "deliberately" disabling perimeter cameras, UNIFIL said in a statement. "Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law."

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Israel's "hostile acts" toward UNIFIL "could constitute war crimes." The Israeli military said last night that its troops were operating near UNIFIL positions but had "instructed the U.N. forces in the area to remain in protected spaces." The IDF last week directed the U.N. peacekeepers to evacuate positions within 3 miles of the Israeli border, but they declined. The 50 countries with peacekeepers in Lebanon "decided we need to continue to fly the U.N. flag," UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said to The Washington Post. The U.N. force, established in 1978, was given a broader mandate to keep the peace in 2006.

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What next?

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of U.N. peacekeeping forces, told an emergency Security Council meeting Thursday night that UNIFIL has temporarily moved 300 peacekeepers to larger bases and would transfer 200 more if security conditions deteriorated further. He said UNIFIL forces, "increasingly in jeopardy," have been confined to bunkers, unable to go on patrol or carry out their other tasks. "We are staying until the situation becomes impossible for us to operate," Tenenti said to Reuters.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.