Israeli forces fired a tank shell at the UN peacekeepers’ headquarters in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the UN said, injuring two international troops as Israel pursued its campaign against Hizbollah militants.
The strike on a watchtower within the headquarters in the village of Ras al-Naqoura was the third time in 24 hours that Israeli fire struck border posts used by Unifil, the UN’s interim force in Lebanon, the peacekeepers said.
The incidents prompted an outcry from countries contributing to the peacekeeping force. Italy summoned Israel’s ambassador, while Rome’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said the incidents “may constitute war crimes”. “This is not a mistake and not an accident,” he said on Thursday.
And at least 18 people were killed and 48 more wounded in twin Israeli air strikes in central Beirut on Thursday evening, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Plumes of smoke were seen rising from two separate locations in the centre of the Lebanese capital, at least 5km away from its southern suburbs where the bulk of Israel’s air strikes have hit. It was not immediately clear who or what the targets were.
Footage carried by Lebanese media at one of the locations showed a large fire blazing in the background, with rescue workers digging through an enormous mound of rubble. Photos and video from the second location showed one strike hit the lower half of a residential building.
This is the second time Israel has struck central Beirut in the past 10 days. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Unifil’s headquarters and nearby border posts have come under repeated fire since Israel began stepping up its campaign against Iran-backed Hizbollah last month — battering Lebanon with thousands of air strikes, killing much of the group’s leadership and launching a ground invasion.
“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701,” Unifil said on Thursday, referring to the UN resolution that grants the force its mandate to patrol southern Lebanon.
Italy, which has more than 1,250 peacekeeping troops in Lebanon, said it had also complained to the UN. Unifil has not released the nationalities of the wounded troops, but Italy, Ireland and France said their personnel were not injured.
Crosetto said: “The hostile acts carried out and reiterated by Israeli forces [against one of the Unifil bases] could constitute war crimes and certainly represent very serious violations of the norms of international humanitarian law, not justified by any military necessity.”
He said the Israeli ambassador had not been able to provide an explanation. “We need formal, real explanations as quickly as possible,” Italy’s defence minister added.
France also expressed “deep concern” and said it was awaiting explanations from Israel.
Unifil said it was following up with Israel’s military on the issue.
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday said Hizbollah was operating in and near civilian areas in southern Lebanon, including areas near Unifil posts, and that it maintained routine communication with the UN force.
The IDF said: “This morning [Thursday], IDF troops operated in the area of Naqoura, next to a Unifil base. Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area.”
Israel’s Rome embassy said its government would continue to make every effort not to target UN forces but claimed Hizbollah was trying to hide near Unifil bases, and Israel had already discovered tunnels and weapons depots near that area.
“Israel has recommended several times to the Italian Unifil military to withdraw part of their forces from the area for security reasons, but unfortunately the request has been rejected,” the diplomatic mission said.
Last week Israel called on UN peacekeeping troops to withdraw from their posts along the Blue Line, the de facto border with Lebanon, as it pushed ahead with its ground invasion. That triggered outrage from states that contribute personnel to the 46-year-old peacekeeping force.
Ireland, which has 347 troops stationed in southern Lebanon as part of a joint battalion with Polish soldiers, rejected those calls, insisting it would not evacuate them even as Israel intensified its air campaign.
Earlier this week Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign and defence minister, criticised Israel’s “reckless behaviour”. Asked by RTÉ television if the IDF was using the soldiers as human shields, Martin said: “They are certainly availing of the cover that they present.”
US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier this week: “We don’t want to see Unifil forces put in danger in any way.”
Israeli forces and Hizbollah militants have clashed at several points along or near the informal border in recent days, including near the southern village of Labbouneh, where one of the UN’s border posts was struck on Thursday.
Unifil has also come under fire from Hizbollah in the past. In 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and another seriously injured when their armoured patrol cars came under fire in a Hizbollah-controlled area.
On Thursday, Unifil said its bases and headquarters were facing “deliberate” fire from Israeli forces, suggesting they were targeted rather than being caught in the crossfire.
In one instance, IDF soldiers fired on an Unifil position in Labbouneh on Wednesday, the international force said, adding that the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering had been hit.
“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance,” it said, adding that IDF soldiers “deliberately fired at and disabled” the border post’s perimeter-monitoring cameras the day before.
In another incident, Unifil said Israeli soldiers had “deliberately fired” on the peacekeepers’ headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura on Wednesday — a building where regular meetings between Israel, Lebanon and Unifil were held before the war — causing damage.
Unifil was established in 1978 and expanded following the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah. It has about 10,500 peacekeeping troops, with major contributing nations including France, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ghana.
Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon, which began late last month, has swollen to four divisions of troops — amounting to as many as 20,000 soldiers at full strength — as the country’s conflict with Hizbollah has intensified.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,100 people over the past year and forced in excess of 1.2mn from their homes, mostly in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese authorities. They have also caused widespread destruction in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said its Lebanon offensive is aimed at securing its northern border area to allow about 60,000 Israelis to return to their homes, after a year of exchanging cross-border fire with Hizbollah.
The Lebanese group began firing rockets towards Israel in support of Gaza a day after the October 7 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
Additional reporting by Mehul Srivastava, Jude Webber in Dublin and Steff Chávez in Washington
Cartography by Steven Bernard and Cleve Jones
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