UN peacekeepers walk past flags during a Reuters visit to Camp Shamrock where Irish and Polish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed, near Maroun al-Ras village close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon Nov. 29, 2023. (Credit: Aziz Taher/Reuters)
BEIRUT — A UN peacekeeper in southern Lebanon was hurt when a group of young men attacked a patrol and tried to stop it from moving through their village, the UN mission said on Thursday, cited by Reuters.
The incident took place on Wednesday night when residents of the village of Taybeh briefly blocked the peacekeepers' patrol traveling through the area, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement.
The man wounded was an Indonesian soldier, a security source said. UNIFIL said a vehicle was damaged as well.
It called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.
In a second incident on Thursday morning, a peacekeepers' convoy traveling to UNIFIL's eastern headquarters was briefly blocked by residents, who let them go ahead after a brief discussion, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said.
A Lebanese security source said a group of men had hit the UNIFIL vehicles with sticks and rocks.
The reason for the actions was not clear but in previous incidents, local people have objected to UNIFIL peacekeepers driving military vehicles through residential areas.
There was no comment from Hezbollah, the armed group backed by Iran which controls security in southern Lebanon.
The area has been particularly tense since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah is close to Hamas and has been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that triggered the war.
No peacekeepers have been killed since the escalation of hostilities. But two peacekeepers have been wounded in two separate incidents and UNIFIL compounds and bases have been hit and damaged by mortar fire several times.
One Irish peacekeeper, Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed in Dec. 2022 when the UN vehicle he was driving in was fired on as it traveled through southern Lebanon.
The mission currently has about 10,000 troops drawn from 47 countries, and about 800 civilian staff, stationed in 45 positions throughout a 1,060 square km (409 square mile) area between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
UNIFIL calls for investigation
AFP reported that on Thursday, UNIFIL called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack.
"A peacekeeper was hurt after a patrol was attacked by a group of young men in Taybeh" near the Israeli border late Wednesday, UNIFIL said in a statement.
"We call on the Lebanese authorities to undertake a full and swift investigation, and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice," it said.
The UN force said such "attacks ... are not only condemnable, but they are violations of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701 and Lebanese law."
UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack.
It was bolstered in Resolution 1701 after Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating war in 2006, and its roughly 10,000 peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the cease-fire between the two sides.
Thursday's statement said peacekeepers' freedom of movement "is vital as we work to restore security and stability along the Blue Line," the frontier demarcated by the UN in 2000 after Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said Wednesday that unidentified individuals stopped and attacked a patrol of the UN force's Indonesian contingent, breaking car windows and injuring one of the troops.