LAST UPDATE | 25 Oct

THE ISRAELI MILITARY fired at a United Nations observation post in Lebanon again this week, peacekeepers say.

Separately, they reported three incidents of unidentified fire impacting Unifil positions, teams and vehicles this week, adding no peacekeepers were hurt but calling the security situation “extremely challenging”.

“Since early October, peacekeepers have observed clashes on the ground in or around” a dozen south Lebanon villages and towns, Unifil said, noting “rocket fire from Lebanon and heavy air and artillery strikes from Israel have continued”.

The Israeli military “has repeatedly demanded that Unifil vacate its positions… and has deliberately damaged camera, lighting, and communications equipment” at some positions, the UN force said.

“Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in position and on task,” it added.

“All actors are reminded of their obligation to avoid actions putting peacekeepers or civilians in danger.”

Earlier this month, Israeli tanks destroyed the entrance to a peacekeepers’ camp in Lebanon and “forcibly entered” the position in what Unifil called “shocking violations”.

Ghanaian troops were injured in the incident, but no Irish soldiers were harmed at the time.

Today, Unifil also said two Indonesian peacekeepers who were wounded on 10 October when “an observation tower at Unifil’s Naqoura headquarters was hit by Israeli tank fire” were back on duty after having “spent three days in intensive care”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the United Nations to move peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon out of “harm’s way”.

He said Israeli forces had asked Unifil several times to leave, saying the peacekeepers’ presence had “the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields”.

“Your refusal to evacuate the Unifil soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers,” the premier said.

“We regret the harm to Unifil soldiers and we are doing our utmost to prevent such harm. But the simplest and most obvious way to ensure this is simply to withdraw them from the danger zone.”

Earlier this week, Irish peacekeepers helped facilitate the successful resupply of Polish manned outpost UNP 6-50 and Irish camp UNP 6-52, due to the successful route clearance operation from Irish Camp Shamrock (UNP 2-45) to both locations.

UNP 6-52 is the smaller of the two Irish camps. It is an outpost on the frontier between Israel and Lebanon. There are approximately 30 soldiers stationed who patrol a line of withdrawal along the so-called Blue Line.

Irish peacekeepers continue to monitor and report any violations by all parties involved, maintaining an independent and impartial stance.

Today in Beirut, an Israeli strike on a journalist compound killed three television news staffers.

The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers were among the journalists “deliberately targeted” in the strike, which took place at around 3.30am this morning.

Meanwhile at the Euromil General Assembly event in Hungary Irish representatives from PDFORRA and the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers delivered a speech to the delegates about the worsening situation for UNIFIL personnel. 

At the conference in Hungary Ger Guinan, General Secretary PDFORRA, led a delegation to pass a resolution to call on the international community to reaffirm its commitment to the safety of peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Some 12,000 troops are deployed on the UNIFIL mission from 50 countries – which includes 12 European countries.

Guinan told the meeting: “As a member of the Irish Defence Forces who has served four tours in UNIFIL I know how important it is to believe that the international community has got your back ,and that you are supported. It reaffirms your commitment to the mission of securing the peace in the face overwhelming force.”

He called on delegates to demonstrate to “our colleagues currently serving in UNIFIL and all those peacekeeper’s from all nations serving in numerous missions across the globe, that we are thinking of them and that we have their backs, that what they do matters and that we believe in the ideals of peace, security and safety for all who serve in the worlds name through service with the UN.”

Lt Col Conor King of RACO said that his group fully supports the resolution and the need to recognise the dangers to UN Peacekeepers. 

“As a member of EUROMIL, RACO thoroughly endorses this resolution condemning threats or attacks on UN peacekeepers in clear violation of international law.

“We are proud of all DF personnel deployed overseas in the service of peace and call on all stakeholders to ensure their safety and ability to continue their important mandate,” he said. 

With reporting by AFP and Niall O’Connor.