Two UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been wounded by Israeli fire, the mission said on Thursday, as Israel’s military ground operations in the country continued.
In a statement, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two of its members were wounded after a Merkava tank fired towards an observation tower at Unifil headquarters in Naqoura, “directly hitting it and causing them to fall”.
“[Israeli] soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system,” said the peacekeeping mission.
“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance.”
Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past month, including a bombing campaign and ground invasion, have killed over 1,200 people and displaced one million.
Maybe they’re using the tried-and-tested strategy of targeting UN forces to make them leave. It happened in Rwanda too, they killed those Belgian peacekeepers and then Belgium and France pulled out. Shortly after that, the Rwandan start their genocide. At least the Israelis seem to have just wounded the peacekeepers, unlike the Rwandan, who hacked the Belgian with machetes. Nevertheless, it doesn’t look very promising.
The Israelis did it in 2006 as well. killed 4 UN peacekeepers chilling in their post. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_incidents_during_the_2006_Lebanon_War No real repercussions from it.
They did it during the 6 day war too. Rolled up on some UN peacekeepers trying to leave the sinai and slaughtered them. 15 killed 17 wounded. 14 Indians and 1 Brazilian. TheUN peacekeepers were evacuating at the time and Israel didnt even pretend to not know they were UN.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Emergency_Force No real repercussions from it.
They also attacked the USS Liberty, and American Navy ship in international waters, killing 34 and wounding 171. Israel pretended not to know it was American, but its not a beleivable denial. As always, there were No real repercussions from it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
Its clearly standard operating procedure to murder some UN peacekeepers. Its not like they are hard to pick out in their bright white painted vehicles and structures, and blue uniforms. Its just plain old murder.