UNIFIL Headquarters Hit by Israeli Airstrikes Amid Conflict

11 Oct at 4:48 pm

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UNIFIL Headquarters Hit by Israeli Airstrikes Amid Conflict \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Recent Israeli airstrikes have targeted U.N. peacekeeping positions in southern Lebanon, injuring multiple peacekeepers and drawing widespread international condemnation. The strikes, part of Israel’s broader campaign against Hezbollah, have sparked concerns about the safety of the 10,000-strong UNIFIL force stationed in the region. The attacks come amid growing tensions between Israel and the United Nations, further complicating the peacekeeping mission.

Israeli Strikes on U.N. Peacekeepers in Lebanon Quick Looks:

Israeli airstrikes targeted U.N. peacekeeping headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon, injuring four peacekeepers over two days.
UNIFIL, the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has 10,000 personnel and monitors the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Israel’s escalating conflict with Hezbollah has placed UNIFIL in the crosshairs, with both sides trading accusations over safety risks to the peacekeepers.
Global condemnation followed the attacks, with Italy and France summoning Israeli ambassadors and human rights organizations calling the strikes potential war crimes.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission has reduced its footprint in Lebanon due to the escalating conflict, raising concerns over its ability to maintain peace and patrol key buffer zones.

Deep Look:

Israeli airstrikes have escalated tensions in southern Lebanon, where the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, was struck in recent days, injuring four peacekeepers and drawing sharp global condemnation. The peacekeeping force, tasked with maintaining peace along the Lebanon-Israel border, has found itself caught in the middle of Israel’s intensifying military campaign against Hezbollah. These latest attacks raise serious questions about the safety and viability of the UNIFIL mission as fighting continues to expand.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon after the country’s first invasion. Its mission was expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, when peacekeepers were deployed along the Israeli border to patrol a buffer zone and monitor the cessation of hostilities. Today, the force consists of around 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries, patrolling the Blue Line—a U.N.-drawn boundary between Lebanon and Israel—and reporting violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict.

However, UNIFIL’s operations have been severely strained in recent weeks as Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah has intensified. On Thursday, Israeli forces directly fired on UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon, knocking down an observation tower and injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers who were later hospitalized. A day later, new explosions hit the same headquarters, injuring two additional peacekeepers. Although UNIFIL did not immediately blame Israel for the latest attack, it has been clear in accusing the Israeli military of deliberately targeting its positions and disabling monitoring equipment.

These attacks have sparked international outrage. Italy, which has deployed about 1,000 soldiers as part of the UNIFIL mission, and France have summoned Israeli ambassadors to express their protests. Italy’s defense minister called the strikes potential “war crimes,” while Human Rights Watch used similar language in its condemnation. The relationship between Israel and the United Nations, already fraught due to the ongoing war in Gaza, has deteriorated further, with Israel recently declaring U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres as persona non grata in an unprecedented diplomatic move.

Tensions between Israel and UNIFIL had been mounting even before the recent strikes. Earlier this month, Israel asked the peacekeeping force to move its personnel further north to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants. UNIFIL refused, maintaining that it needed to stay in position to monitor the conflict effectively. However, Israel’s strikes on peacekeeping positions—combined with the escalating violence—have severely impacted UNIFIL’s ability to carry out its mission.

Israeli military officials have expressed concern over the incident, with the army stating that it is conducting a thorough review to determine the details. On Friday, Israel claimed that its soldiers had fired in response to an immediate threat and had instructed UNIFIL personnel to move into protected spaces well before the attacks occurred. Israel has also accused Hezbollah of using U.N. posts as shields by operating dangerously close to peacekeepers, a tactic that, they argue, endangers U.N. personnel.

The attacks are part of a broader pattern of Israeli strikes targeting areas near U.N. positions in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL has reported multiple incidents during the current war in which Israeli forces fired on patrol vehicles or shelled peacekeeping positions. These incidents evoke memories of past conflicts, particularly the 1996 Israeli shelling of a U.N. compound near Qana, where hundreds of displaced civilians were sheltering. That attack killed 106 civilians and injured four Fijian soldiers assigned to UNIFIL, leaving a lasting scar on the U.N.-Israel relationship.

The current strikes have raised questions about the future of the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. The Israeli military has requested that UNIFIL personnel move at least 5 kilometers (3 miles) north to avoid becoming entangled in the ongoing fighting. However, moving north would severely impede UNIFIL’s ability to monitor the situation and fulfill its mandate. U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting that peacekeepers would not evacuate, but admitted that air and ground attacks have significantly restricted their ability to patrol the buffer zone between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

“Peacekeepers have been confined to their bases with significant periods of time in shelter,” Lacroix reported, adding that U.N. personnel were facing challenges resupplying food, water, and fuel to their positions. As a result of the escalating violence, Lacroix said UNIFIL had temporarily moved 300 peacekeepers from frontline positions to larger bases and was considering relocating an additional 200 if security conditions worsened. He also noted that UNIFIL had already reduced its footprint by 25% in the most affected areas and might have to cut back further if the conflict continues to escalate.

Despite these setbacks, UNIFIL remains determined to stay in southern Lebanon. “UNIFIL has remained in its positions along the Blue Line without interruption since its establishment,” said Nick Birnback, U.N. peacekeeping’s chief of strategic communications. He added that any decision to halt the mission for security reasons would rest with the United Nations, although growing violence is increasingly putting peacekeepers in harm’s way.

Italy’s defense minister echoed concerns about the peacekeepers’ safety, stating that whether the UNIFIL mission can continue will depend on security conditions on the ground. For now, the U.N. peacekeepers remain stationed in southern Lebanon, but their ability to conduct operations has been significantly hampered, raising concerns about the mission’s future viability as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah rages on.