Three senior UN officials have briefed an emergency session of the Security Council on the expansion of the war in the Middle East into southern Lebanon where three Indonesian Peacekeepers were recently killed with serious injury to several other blue helmets.
The origin of the attacks on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon have yet to be determined but comes in the context of a continued Israeli expansion of military operations in southern Lebanon in an effort to quell rocket fire from militant group Hezbollah, that is targeting Israel in solidarity with Iran.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres earlier warned that attacks on peacekeepers were grave violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.
As the UN pushes for a diplomatic off-ramp, it’s operations in Lebanon are again in the crossfire.
And while Iran has been the focus of Israeli and US military operations, Lebanon has become a major theatre for this expanding conflict.
Under Secretary General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre LaCroix says, “Peacekeepers must never be a target. All acts that endanger the peacekeepers must immediately stop. All actors must adhere to their obligations to ensure the safety and security of the peacekeepers at all times. The inviolability of United Nations installations must be respected.”
Thousands of exchanges have occurred since Hezbollah entered the war on March 2nd while an Israeli advance into the southern Lebanon has seen over one million people displaced with Lebanese authorities reporting over 1,200 deaths and thousands more injured.
The UN High Commission for Refugees says that over 200,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, many of them Syrian who had earlier fled the war in their own country.
The UN says attacks on healthcare facilities have killed 53 health workers while three journalists where reportedly killed by an IDF strike on Saturday.
French Ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont says, “Grave incidents have also been committed by Israel against the French contingent in Nakamura, and particularly against the head of the military of the force. Israeli soldiers have shown an aggressive attitude and carried out intimidation and attacked the security of personnel of the French contingent at a time when deconfliction procedures had been duly respected. France condemns in strongest terms these direct threats to personnel working within Unifil. We share this information with the Israeli authorities and light should be shared on what has happened without delay. This Council cannot settle for condemning. It must act so that these kind of acts do not happen again.”
Several bridges over the Litany River 30 km north of the Israeli-Lebanon border have been destroyed by Israeli’s military, alleging Hezbollah’s use of them to transfer weapons and fighters to launch attacks against Israel.
The UN pointed to the militant group blatantly rejecting decisions by the Lebanese Government to outlaw its activities while pointing to northern Israel where communities have also been displaced by rocket fire.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says, “I’d like to recall once again that the root cause of this escalation in the Lebanese Israel confrontation is the aggression of Washington and West Jerusalem against Iran, which was the trip wire for a broader destruction of the fragile stability in the Middle East. Unfortunately, many members of the Security Council are stubbornly silent about this and continue to try to place all responsibility exclusively on the Lebanese pushback, presenting it as the main culprit for the spike of violence along the blue line.”
Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon argued that Hezbollah was firing rockets in close proximity to UN positions and civilians.
“We have no desire to remain or operate in Lebanon. Our goal is to protect our communities and to push this threat away from our border. Mr. President, this is what happens when a terrorist group turns an entire region into a battlefield. When rockets are launched from villages, when weapons are hidden among civilians, when international forces are placed in the middle of it all. So let me be clear. If Hezbollah continues, the danger continues.”
Indonesia’s envoy Ambassador Umar Hadi demanded an investigation by the United Nations and not what it referred to as excuses from Israel.
“The current escalation did not arise in vacuum. It stems from repeated incursions by the Israeli military into the territory of Lebanon. Indonesia strongly condemns Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, which constitute a serious violation against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon.”
The UN insisting there was no military solution, only diplomacy, dialogue and the full implementation of the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions.
