Despite an incident Sunday in which Israeli tanks forced their way into a UNIFIL peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon and ended up firing near the base, wounding a number of personnel, the UN has rejected Israeli calls to withdraw from the area.
The UN Security Council issued a statement expressing support for the UNIFIL monitoring mission, and affirmed that the troops will remain in the country, despite multiple calls from Israel’s Netanyahu government to leave.
The statement also called on all parties to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises in Lebanon. They didn’t single Israel out in the statement, though all the reported attacks on UNIFIL targets in recent weeks have been from the Israeli side.
This has led to high profile statements from some substantial nations saying Israeli attacks on the UN peacekeepers has to cease at once. Despite reports of the incidents leaving little doubt that Israel is not complying with UNSC Resolution 1701, Israeli officials denied that they are deliberately attacking the UN troops.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, instead of commenting on the necessity to commit to not attacking the UNIFIL, issued another statement demanding that get out of “harm’s way” and arguing that the demand proves that they are not at war with UNIFIL.
The UNIFIL mission is meant to reduce violence in southern Lebanon and observe tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border. The mission’s mandate was substantially enhanced after the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, but seems to be little in the way of an obstacle to the most recent invasion.
