A United Nations helicopter lands on the roof of Saint-Georges Greek Orthodox Hospital, Achrafieh in Beirut shortly after an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, March 30 2024. (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A Lebanese Army official told AFP that the preliminary results of an investigation into the explosion on Saturday that injured UNIFIL personnel found that it was caused by landmine.
Three UN military observers and a translator were wounded by a nearby explosion while they were on a foot patrol of the Blue Line, an unofficial UN-drawn border between Lebanon and Israel.
“Preliminary results of a Lebanese army investigation have found that the observers were wounded by a landmine,” the judicial official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The ongoing investigation has not determined who exactly planted the mine. There are several areas in southern Lebanon that contain Israeli landmines leftover from the army's occupation of the territory. The official said three mines were planted in the area, "one of which exploded."
UNIFIL said that military observers from Australia, Chile and Norway and a Lebanese language assistant were wounded in Saturday’s blast.
Israel claimed earlier on Wednesday that it had obtained information that indicated a Hezbollah explosive charge had caused the blast. It had quickly denied striking the area on Saturday following reports of the UNIFIL injuries.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP the party would “certainly not respond to the Israeli accusations,” adding that the matter was in the hands of UNIFIL and the army.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that preliminary reports showed “the explosion was not caused by direct or indirect fire."
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Wednesday that a Hezbollah explosive device caused the explosion.
"The explosion that took place ... in Rmeish, which resulted in the injury of a number of UNIFIL personnel, was caused by the detonation of an explosive device that Hezbollah had previously planted in this area," he posted on X.
Adraee did not specify how the army had reached this conclusion and did not provide any evidence to support the claim.
UNIFIL's spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told L'Orient Today on Tuesday that the three injured UN military observers have been "doing better and recovering."
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire at the Lebanese-Israeli border since Oct. 8, one day after the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Last November, UNIFIL announced that one of its patrols had been hit by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon, without causing any casualties.
In February, UNIFIL released a report that concluded the Israeli army had violated international law by firing on a group of clearly identifiable journalists, killing a Reuters journalist in October.