A UNIFIL PATROL involving French and Finnish peacekeepers in Lebanon faced a denial of freedom of movement from a group of individuals, with at least one of them armed, UNIFIL said today.

“Denial of freedom of movement” constitutes the deliberate blocking of a convoy by a separate group on a route. The death of Private Sean Rooney in 2022 was the result of one such blocking. 

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon, while the convoy were conducting a patrol in the village of Bedias. 

The group of individuals is suspected to be militant group Hezbollah. 

In a statement released by UNIFIL, it said: “The patrol managed to get around the obstruction and continued along its planned route. About an hour later, when the patrol had just crossed the village of Maarakeh, it was fired upon about 40 times from behind, likely from non-state actor members.”

The patrol leader ordered the convoy to leave the area quickly while staying on the planned route, and it arrived at a UNIFIL base in Deir Kifa safely. Although some patrol vehicles had bullet impacts, there was no injury to the peacekeepers.

The Lebanese Armed Forces was immediately informed about the incident, UNIFIL said.

UNIFIL has launched an investigation into the incident.

 The UN peacekeeping mission said that it was “unacceptable” that peacekeepers are “routinely targeted”. It said that it was the Lebanese authorities’ responsibility to ensure UNIFIL peacekeepers can carry out their duties “without fear or threats”. 

“Once again, UNIFIL reminds all actors to ongoing hostilities across the Blue Line to avoid actions putting UN peacekeepers in danger. They must respect the inviolability of UN personnel and premises at all times,” the statement continued. 

It said that any attack on peacekeepers is a violation of international laws. 

“Despite these and other challenges, peacekeepers remain in all positions and will continue to impartially monitor and report on violations of resolution 1701.”

Includes reporting by Niall O’Connor