MONITORING (SW) – US President Joe Biden has said he is “absolutely, positively” urging Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers during its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, following two incidents in 48 hours.
On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops were responsible for the incident, in which two Sri Lankan soldiers for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were injured.
The leaders of France, Italy and Spain issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s actions, saying they were unjustifiable and should immediately come to an end.
Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the IDF attack which injured two of its soldiers.
The head of UN peacekeeping said there was reason to believe some firing on UN positions in southern Lebanon had been direct, though he did not ascribe responsibility for the incidents.
“For example we have a case where a tower was hit by a fire and also damages to cameras at one of the positions – which obviously to us very much looked like direct fire,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the BBC’s Newshour programme.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the attacks came with no warning and killed 22 people, all civilians, and injured another 117. Israel has not commented.
Israeli forces launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon last month as they escalated their response to rocket fire from Hezbollah.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near-daily cross-border fire since last October, when the Palestinian armed group Hamas in the Gaza Strip carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel.
About 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff.
