Israeli attacks injure four UN soldiers in Lebanon, Israel accuses Hezbollah of using these forces as a shield: 371st day of war
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, declared that the attacks attributed to Israel in southern Lebanon that injured UN soldiers on Thursday are intolerable, stressing that they “must not be repeated” and that they constitute “a violation of international humanitarian law”.
“There was naturally a reaction from many parties in solidarity with the peacekeepers who were injured, and to make it very clear to Israel, this incident is intolerable and cannot be repeated,” the leader told reporters in Laos, where he participated in a regional summit.
Two Indonesian soldiers were slightly injured on Thursday when a watchtower at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (FINUL) fell from a watchtower in Naqoura in the south of the country, brought down by army fire. Israeli.
However, today, at least two more peacekeepers, this time Sri Lankan nationals, were injured in a new Israeli attack on the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. According to Lebanese news agency NNA, the attack occurred when an “enemy Merkava tank [supostamente israelita] attacked one of the FINUL towers on the highway that connects Tire to Naquora (south), in front of the Lebanese army checkpoint”.
The UN stated that there are “at this time” no plans to reposition the forces of its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, which are allegedly being targeted by Israeli attacks in the south of the country.
The Israeli army admitted, however, that its troops mistakenly reached bases of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in clashes with Hezbollah. In a statement, cited by the Italian news agency ANSA, they stressed, however, that pro-Iranian Shiite militias were using civilian structures and UN forces as human shields.
The military forces admitted that they had been notified that two Sinhalese soldiers from the UNIFIL peacekeeping force were “inadvertently injured during the army’s fight against Hezbollah” in southern Lebanon, and expressed “deep concern about incidents of this nature”.
“Given the complex and difficult operating environment in which Hezbollah uses civilian structures and UNIFIL as shields, the IDF [Forças de Defesa de Israel] will continue to make efforts to mitigate the risk of recurrence of such unfortunate incidents,” they added.
Foreign Minister deplores “unacceptable” attack and calls for Israeli restraint
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, considered the attacks on the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to be “unacceptable”, considering that Israel is “usurping” its legitimacy to act.
Speaking at the end of the XI Summit of the Southern Countries of the European Union (MED9) in Paphos, Cyprus, which was dominated by the spread of conflict in the Middle East with Israeli military operations in Lebanon, Rangel considered that there is “a very worrying situation”. and called for the containment of “all but in particular” Israel.
In the joint statement adopted at the end of today’s meeting, the nine southern EU countries that form MED9 – Croatia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal – say they support “the fundamental role of stabilization of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon”, condemn the recent attacks that hit UNIFIL bases, whose responsibility has already been admitted by Israel, although attributing them to a “mistake”, and recall that “all peacekeeping forces must be protected” .
OTHER FEATURED NEWS
⇒ The head of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security agency, assured that Hamas has been “entrenched” in southern Lebanon for years, a situation that tends to intensify as it is displaced from the Gaza Strip. “We will always remember the massacre of October 7th and we will ensure that they remember the lesson of October 8th,” said Ronen Bar, during a visit to Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
⇒ Israel today criticized a United Nations investigation that concluded that the Jewish state deliberately sought to destroy the healthcare system in Gaza and mistreated Palestinian detainees, calling the report “biased.” “This report is yet another blatant attempt to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel and impede its right to protect its population, while at the same time covering up the crimes of terrorist organizations”, writes Israel’s representation at the UN in Geneva .
⇒ O Israeli army announced that it killed the leader of Islamic JihadMohammed Abdullah, in the Nour Shams Palestinian refugee camp in Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli attack on Tulkarem refugee camp
Issam Rimawi/Anadolu via Getty Images
⇒ Hezbollah stated that the Shiite movement “is doing well” and that the priority is “defeating the Israeli enemy by force”. “However, any internal or external effort to put an end to the aggression will be appreciated, as long as it is compatible with our overall view of the battle, its circumstances and its outcome,” said the head of Hezbollah’s press office, Mohamed Afif. , at a press conference in Beirut.
⇒ The Israeli Army today claimed the death of a commander of the anti-tank unit of the special forces of the Shiite militia Hezbollah in a new bombing in southern Lebanon, without the pro-Iranian movement confirming the action. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said that he was Ghareeb al-Shujaa, commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, who directed the anti-tank missile unit in the Meiss el-Jabal area, in southern Lebanon, and that is responsible for orchestrating numerous attacks against Israel.
⇒ The World Health Organization (WHO) denounced that Israel prevented the passage of two missions to the north of the Gaza Strip, calling for respect for humanitarian operations, as the region “has almost no health services”. The organization’s general director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, indicated, on the social network control”. The WHO also indicated that at least 18 medical facilities in Lebanon have been attacked by Israel since September 17.
⇒ The Israeli Army announced that it will increase the number of combat units in the West Bank to “strengthen the defense of settlements”, considered illegal under international law, and the controversial separation barrier.
⇒ More than 100 countries, including Portugal, signed a letter of support for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, after Israel declared him ‘persona non grata’ for the way he condemned Iran’s attack on Tel Aviv. The statement issued at the initiative of Chile and initially supported by Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Uganda, Indonesia, Spain, Guyana and Mexico, warns that such measures, like the one approved by the Israeli government, “undermine the ability of the United Nations to fulfill mandate”, including conflict mediation.
⇒ The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, called on the international community to urgently end the export of weapons to Israel. Sánchez guaranteed that the Spanish government stopped exporting any weapons or military equipment to Israel, in a “determined position” of “not contributing in any way to the escalation of the war” in the Middle East.
⇒ Air raid sirens sounded this afternoon in cities in northwestern Israel as the country prepares to celebrate the Yom Kippur holiday, with the Israeli army reporting “around 80 projectiles” fired from Lebanon.
