Israel and the UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon have a troubled history, with Israeli drones regularly attacking the peacekeepers in violation of the UN Resolution 1701. Earlier this month, they injured one peacekeeper when a drone dropped a grenade on them.
The UNIFIL reported that on Sunday an Israeli drone was flying overhead in Kfar Kela an aggressive manner, and the UNIFIL “neutralized” it, which is to say they shot it out of the sky. The IDF maintains the drone was just conducting surveillance and posed no threat to the UN personnel.
That claim would be a little easier to justify, however, if earlier that day another Israel drone had not once again dropped a grenade on a UNIFIL patrol in the same area, and Israeli tanks fired shots in their vicinity.
UNIFIL personnel patrol southern Lebanon | Image is Public Domain
Even after the downing of the supposedly innocent drone, The IDF sent another drone to the site and dropped yet another grenade, reportedly so that the downed drone could not be recovered by anyone, which apparently could’ve given credence that the drone posed a threat.
The IDF has repeatedly dropped grenades on UNIFIL personnel in recent months, all the while insisting they would never directly target the peacekeepers and maintaining that such incidents were “mistaken identity.” That mistake, however, keeps happening, and the downing of the drone Sunday suggests the UNIFIL is no longer content to hope that the drones won’t attack them this time.
Following yesterday’s grenade drop and tank fire, the UNIFIL issued another statement faulting Israel for violating the UN resolution and endangering peacekeepers, though in that case, no peacekeepers were actually wounded in the incident.
