Israel denounced over attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

The UN has condemned Israeli fire near peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon after peacekeepers neutralised an Israeli drone on October 26th, as reported by France 24 with AFP on October 27th.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said: “We are very concerned about the incident that occurred on [October 26th] in which an Israeli drone dropped a grenade in the vicinity of a UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon] patrol, and subsequently an Israeli tank fired a shot at the peacekeepers in Kfar Kila in the UNIFIL area of operations.”

He added: “Our colleagues at UNIFIL are in touch with the IDF to protest vehemently what has happened. It’s not the first time that we feel we’ve been targeted in different ways by the IDF, including pointing lasers or firing warning shots. It’s very, very dangerous.”

Peacekeepers are stationed in southern Lebanon to enforce the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon. The truce also required Hezbollah to dismantle its military presence north of the Litani River and hand over its weapons to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).

Israel had previously dropped grenades near UNIFIL personnel, as the staff were clearing roadblocks blocking access to a UN position near the Blue Line.

On July 29th, the Israeli army admitted to breaching the ceasefire deal with Lebanon on hundreds of occasions since November 2024; violations constituted approximately 500 strikes.

Alongside breaching the ceasefire, Israel has eyed an expansionist plan. Under the “Greater Israel” plan, Israel would expand its borders beyond those established after the 1967 Six-Day War.

It was reported on August 13th, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that he was on a “historic and spiritual mission” to form a “Greater Israel.” The idea would see Israel fully expanding into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, alongside Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and parts of Jordan and Syria.

Israel already occupies the Syrian Golan Heights, which was captured during the Six-Day War and annexed by Israel in 1981. The US recognised the move in 2019. 

On October 13th, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for renewed negotiations with Israel, arguing that an ongoing war “did not lead to any positive results.”

Aoun added that “Lebanon negotiated in the past with Israel with mediation by the United States and the United Nations,” in reference to the October 2022 maritime border deal over the resource-rich Mediterranean Sea.  He then asked: “What prevents repeating the same thing to find solutions to pending matters?”

France 24 with AFP, Maghrebi.org, The White House