A member of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) was killed and another critically injured when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Aadchit Al Qusayr on Sunday.
Unifil said it was unsure of the origin of the projectile and that an investigation was under way. It marks the first death of a member of the UN peacekeeping force since the Israel-Hezbollah war resumed this month.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the Unifil incident. “This is just one of a number of recent incidents that have jeopardised the safety and security of peacekeepers," he said on Monday.
The killed peacekeeper was from Indonesia, the country's Foreign Ministry said. Three of its citizens were injured by indirect artillery fire, it added. The country condemned the incident and said any harm to peacekeepers was unacceptable, while repeating its condemnation of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
Unifil on Monday afternoon said there was another "incident" involving peacekeepers near Bani Hayyan in which members were injured.
“Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger,” Unifil said. “Deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law … and may amount to war crimes."
Separately on Monday, a Lebanese soldier was killed and others have been injured in an Israeli strike on an army checkpoint on Al Qlailah-Tyre motorway in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said.
On March 6, Ghana's armed forces said two soldiers were critically injured when the headquarters of its peacekeeping battalion in Lebanon was hit by Israeli tank fire. The Israeli military later acknowledged it hit a UN position that day.
UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are charged with monitoring hostilities across the demarcation point between Israel and Lebanon, known as the Blue Line. Unifil members are caught up in the violence between Israel and Hezbollah, with the peacekeeping force's headquarters in the coastal border town of Naqoura hit several times in recent weeks.
Lebanon was dragged into the latest conflict when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, two days after Tehran was attacked by Israel and the US and former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he ordered the military to expand its invasion and occupation in southern Lebanon.
