In yet another incident of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon finding themselves a target of the Israeli military, the UNIFIL reported yesterday that an Israeli Merkava tank fired on a UNIFIL patrol near the border village of Sarda.
The patrol reported a burst of machine gun fire from the tank fired directly at them, and four other bursts of machine gun fire in the same vicinity. Firing on UNIFIL patrols, or even near them, is a violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701.
The UNIFIL reported contacting the IDF through liaison channels and asked them to stop firing on them. No one was hurt in this incident, and the IDF has yet to comment on this attack, only the most recent of a long string of recent attacks.
An Israeli Merkava tank. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
UNIFIL personnel come under fire from Israel on a fairly regular basis, and as with most cases, the UN had informed the IDF of this latest patrol when they were in the area, which was meant to avoid any confusion.
Israeli officials have been condemning the UNIFIL for years, and just last week alleged that the peacekeepers were secretly aiding Hezbollah by taking photographs of the border area. They also complained the UNIFIL was a barrier to Israeli military operations against Lebanon, which indeed is one of the points of the peacekeepers in the first place. The UNIFIL, however, maintains their neutrality.
Just a few days ago UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Diodato Abagnara was on Israel’s Channel 12 and denied Israeli government claims that Hezbollah was reconstructing its forces south of the Litani River, saying the peacekeepers have seen no evidence of that.
This will inevitably raise concerns that this latest Israeli attack on the peacekeepers was direct retaliation for the commander’s comments undermining their pretense for escalating attacks on Lebanon. That is impossible to prove, however, and since Israel attacks UN peacekeepers as almost a matter of course at any rate, it could be entirely coincidental.
