US urges Israel to stop shooting at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

[Pelican Press 0]

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US urges ******* to stop ********* at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

US President Joe Biden has said he is “absolutely, positively” urging ******* to stop ******* at UN peacekeepers during its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, following two incidents in 48 hours.

On Friday, the ******* Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops were responsible the incident, in which two Sri Lankan soldiers for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were injured.

IDF soldiers operating around the Unifil base in Naqoura identified a threat and opened *****, the ******** army said, adding the incident would be investigated “at the highest levels”.

On Thursday, two Indonesian soldiers for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were injured falling from an observation tower after an ******** tank fired towards it.

The leaders of France, Italy and Spain issued a ****** statement condemning *******’s actions, saying they were unjustifiable and should immediately come to an end.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the IDF ******* which injured two of its soldiers.

The head of UN peacekeeping said there was reason to believe some ******* on UN positions in southern Lebanon had been direct, though he did not ascribe responsibility for the incidents.

“For example we have a case where a tower was hit by a ***** and also damages to cameras at one of the positions – which obviously to us very much looked like direct *****,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the BBC’s Newshour programme.

As *******’s invasion of southern Lebanon continues, the IDF and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah continued to ***** missiles and rockets across the *******-Lebanon border.

The IDF said it had detected about 100 rockets crossing into northern ******* from Lebanon within the space of half an hour on Friday. Two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected crossing from Lebanon, one of which was intercepted, the IDF said.

The Lebanese ministry of health said three people, including a two-year-old girl, were ******* in an ******** raid on the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon. Two Lebanese soldiers were ******* after ******** forces targeted an army post in the town of Kafra in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said.

In the capital Beirut, emergency workers continued to comb through the wreckage of buildings hit by two ******** air strikes on Thursday.

Lebanon’s prime minister said the attacks came with no warning and ******* 22 people, all civilians, and injured another 117. ******* has not commented.

******** forces launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon last month as they escalated their response to rocket ***** from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and ******* have been trading near-daily cross-border ***** since last October, when the ************ armed group ****** attacked communities in southern *******.

The IDF has said the UN post struck in Naqoura on Friday was about 164ft (50m) away from the source of the threat identified by soldiers. It said it had told peacekeeping troops to stay in protected spaces at the time.

Unifil said ******** military vehicles had knocked over barriers at another UN site in Labbouneh, closer to the border with *******.

The incidents represented a “serious development”, it said.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday’s ******* was “a ****** which is directed at the international community”.

******* argues that Unifil has ******* to stabilise the region, and has asked peacekeepers to withdraw northwards so it can confront Hezbollah.

The ******** ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has reiterated *******’s call for Unifil personnel to withdraw north by 5km (3 miles) to “avoid danger,” but the UN’s Jean-Pierre Lacroix said they would remain in position.

About 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff.

Since 1978, they have patrolled the area between the Litani River and the UN-recognised boundary between Lebanon and *******, known as the “Blue Line”.

Hezbollah began ******* rockets into northern ******* on 8 October last year, the day after ******’s deadly ******* on southern *******. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and has said it will stop ******* if there is a ceasefire between ******* and ****** in Gaza.

Over the past three weeks, ******* has dramatically escalated its campaign against Hezbollah, intensifying air strikes against southern Lebanon and southern parts of Beirut, assassinating Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and launching a ground invasion.

Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been *******, mainly in the recent escalation, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. This week Hezbollah rocket ***** has ******* two ******** civilians and a Thai national, ******** authorities say.

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#urges #******* #stop #********* #peacekeepers #Lebanon

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