The United Nations announced on Sunday, October 13, that Israeli tanks broke through the gates of the international peacekeeping force (UNFIL) base in southern Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier called on the UN to evacuate UNIFIL members from areas in Lebanon where conflicts are ongoing, reports Reuters.
"The time has come to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and conflict zones," Netanyahu told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
A few hours later UNFIL forces reported further Israeli violations of the international agreement. Netanyahu told Guterres that the Israel Defense Forces had repeatedly requested withdrawals, but had been met with "repeated refusals," and "the soldiers have consequently become human shields for Hezbollah terrorists."
Israel claims that Hezbollah uses the "blue helmets" as human shields. The position of the UN, however, is that neither the Israeli nor any other government can change the mandate of the United Nations mission, which has been stationed in the buffer zone in Lebanon since the 1970s.
Attack on UN soldiers a "war crime"
Attacks on United Nations (UN) peacekeepers are a violation of international law, including international humanitarian law, and could be treated as a war crime, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned after shelling and a series of attacks on UNIFIL peacekeeping missions in recent days in the conflict. between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah.
The warning was repeated that peacekeepers under the UN flag must not be targeted.
In response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call yesterday to withdraw UNIFIL troops from the combat zone, Guterres retorted that UN peacekeepers remain in their bases in southern Lebanon. "The UNIFIL mission will remain in all its positions and the UN flag will continue to fly," UN spokesman Stefan Dižarik said in a statement.
Hezbollah denies the accusations
The militant pro-Iranian Shiite militia Hezbollah denies Israeli accusations that it uses the proximity of peacekeepers for its own protection. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days in a series of attacks, and UNIFIL blames Israeli military forces for most of the attacks.
The UNIFIL force consists of 10.000 soldiers, Italy participates with more than 1.000, and France and Spain each have approximately 700 soldiers. All three countries condemned the Israeli attacks.
Israeli officials claim that UNIFIL did not comply with UN resolution 1701 adopted after the 2006 war, which called for the border area of southern Lebanon to be free of weapons and military forces, except for Lebanese state soldiers.
Isource: FoNet
