BEIRUT: Three United Nations peacekeepers suffered gentle accidents on Sunday (Aug 18), the UN mentioned, after a blast close to their car near Lebanon’s southern border, the place Hezbollah and Israel have traded near-daily hearth.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group has exchanged cross-border hearth with the Israeli military in assist of ally Hamas because the Palestinian militant group’s Oct 7 assault on Israel sparked the Gaza struggle.
“Earlier as we speak, three peacekeepers on patrol have been frivolously injured when an explosion occurred close to their clearly marked UN car within the neighborhood of Yarine, in south Lebanon,” the UN Interim Power in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mentioned in an announcement.
“All peacekeepers within the patrol returned safely to their base. We’re wanting into the incident,” it added.
Earlier on Sunday, Lebanon’s state-run Nationwide Information Company had reported that “Israeli enemy warplanes” struck the village of Dhayra, about 1km from Yarine, “leading to accidents”.
A UNIFIL supply advised AFP the explosion that injured the peacekeepers was most likely a nearby air strike, however “not a direct hit”.
Earlier in August, Underneath-Secretary-Basic for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix advised AFP that UNIFIL was as we speak “extra vital than ever” amid the ongoing cross-border clashes, as a result of it was “the one liaison channel between the Israeli aspect and the Lebanese aspect in all its elements, corresponding to Hezbollah”.
In April, a judicial official advised AFP that an ongoing Lebanese military investigation decided {that a} landmine wounded three UN army observers and a translator the earlier month, whereas Israel implicated Hezbollah.
UNIFIL’s mandate, which expires on the finish of the month, is about to be renewed by the UN Safety Council for one more yr.
