As part of its fourth land invasion of Lebanon, Israel crossed yet another red line by opening fire on several positions of United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL, UNIFIL in English). The UN mission denounced the fact that these attacks are “repeated” and some “deliberate”. The most serious occurred this Thursday, in Naqoura, where the Israeli army fired on an observation tower of the UN headquarters and injured two peacekeepers, of Indonesian nationality.
The attacks come days after Israel called for the withdrawal of UN troops from areas near the border, although their presence was established by a Security Council mandate. The United Nations has already responded by stating that UNIFIL will remain in place and will not abandon its work.
At the head of the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, with just over 10,000 troops under his command – including 670 Spaniards – is Spanish Major General Aroldo Lázaro, whose mandate began in 2022 and will continue until next year. Their task is delicate, in a scenario where Israel advances its ground invasion from the south and bombs several regions of the country. In a few days, the Israeli army caused the deaths of more than 2,000 Lebanese – more than a hundred children – and the displacement of more than a million.
The bombings exceed in intensity and damage those of 2006, when Israel applied the Dahiya doctrine, destroying entire blocks of houses. This new invasion began on October 1, after Israeli attacks which exploded more than 3,000 electronic devices – while a resolution had just been approved at the UN calling for an end to hostilities – and after months of clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. Army, in which 83% of attacks were Israeli.
The attack on UN peacekeepers’ posts comes days after Israel called for their withdrawal from certain areas.
Tensions and concerns about the situation of the peacekeepers have increased in recent days. This week, the Israeli army carried out military activities near a UN peacekeeping post in southern Lebanon staffed by Irish soldiers. UNIFIL denounced this event as “extremely dangerous” and expressed its “deep concern”: “It is unacceptable to endanger the security of United Nations peacekeepers who carry out the tasks entrusted to them by the Security Council “, he noted in a press release.
It is precisely in this area, next to the Irish post in southern Lebanon, that three days ago the Israeli army raised the flag of its country, as a symbol of its military invasion. The Irish government publicly protested what happened and its president, Michael D. Higgins, accused Tel Aviv of making “outrageous threats” against UNIFIL, not only because of Israeli military operations next door. of the Irish post, but also because of the demand. for Israel to remove UN peacekeepers. Ireland is, with Spain and Norway, one of three European countries to have recognized the Palestinian state in recent months.
The Spanish command at the head of UNIFIL finds itself in one of the moments of greatest Israeli aggressiveness against the UN.
Other Israeli attacks
The mission of UN forces in Lebanon is dictated by several Security Council resolutions and aims to ensure peace and stability in the region. It began in 1978, in response to the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, with the aim of guaranteeing peace and the withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces from the country. However, they remained on Lebanese territory for eighteen years, until the year 2000. After their departure, the presence of the Blue Helmets was maintained and their mission was renewed in 2006, by resolution 1701, when the Israeli army invaded Lebanon again for thirty years. -three days.
A few weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council approved another resolution, 2749, which extends the current mandate of UN peacekeepers until August 2025 and politically commits to supporting a ceasefire. -permanent fire and a cessation of hostilities. Twenty days after its approval, Israel launched its bombings against 3,000 mobile devices and twelve days later it invaded Lebanon.
This is not the first time that UN peacekeepers have come under Israeli attack in southern Lebanon. In 1996, the Israeli army killed more than a hundred civilian refugees at the United Nations headquarters in Qana. Among the hundreds of wounded, there were four peacekeepers. In 2006, during the thirty-three day invasion, Israeli forces launched at least thirty attacks on UNIFIL positions and killed four United Nations military observers – from Austria, China, Canada and Finland – despite being repeatedly warned that they were bombing. a position of strength of the UN.
In 2015, another Israeli attack killed Spanish corporal Francisco Javier Soria, also stationed with UN forces in southern Lebanon.
In 2015, another Israeli attack killed Spaniard Francisco Javier Soria, a member of the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli offensive against the UN
The Spanish command at the head of UNIFIL faces one of the contexts of greatest Israeli aggressiveness against the UN. Over the past twelve months, Israel has attacked dozens of United Nations facilities in Gaza, killing two hundred and twenty employees of the international organization. So far there have been no sanctions or retaliations. There is therefore a risk that this type of military aggression will happen again.
The offensive and contempt towards the United Nations also occurs at the political and diplomatic level. The Israeli government has launched a campaign to withdraw funds from the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), declared Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata and questioned the General Assembly and the International Court of Justice. , the highest court of the United Nations, where Israel is under investigation in South Africa’s genocide trial. He also attacked The Hague’s other tribunal, the International Criminal Court, where Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity are investigated.
So far there have been no sanctions or retaliations. There is therefore a risk that this type of aggression will recur.
Furthermore, Tel Aviv maintains and expands its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories – contrary to several UN resolutions – and does not respect the precautionary orders issued in recent months by the International Court of Justice, intended to guarantee the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory. Loop. The deliberate military attacks against several UNIFIL posts in southern Lebanon constitute another step in this headlong flight.
Each new violation weakens international law and opens the way to more impunity. In this context, the attacks against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon take on more meaning, when the Israeli army seeks to expand its territorial invasion and regional escalation without obstacles.
