Israel criticized for dropping grenades near UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli drones dropped four grenades close to U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel as they were working to clear roadblocks, the force said Wednesday. No one was hurt in the strike.

The peacekeeping force, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, described the Tuesday morning incident as “one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets” since the cessation of hostilities in November that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

The Israeli military said later Wednesday that it didn’t intentionally target the peacekeepers, but dropped several sonic bombs near a suspect in a border area. It added that it had made contact with the peacekeeping force and explained the details of what happened.

UNIFIL said one grenade hit within 20 meters (65 feet) and three others within approximately 100 meters (330 feet) of U.N. personnel and vehicles, adding that the drones were observed returning toward Israel.

UNIFIL said the Israeli military had been informed in advance of the peacekeeping force’s road clearance work in the area, southeast of the village of Marwahin and less than a kilometer (about a half-mile) from the border line.

“Out of concern for the safety of peacekeepers following the incident, yesterday’s work was suspended,” UNIFIL said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric when asked whether Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accepted Israel’s explanation that it did not intentionally target the peacekeepers, said, “Whether or not they meant to do it… what I can tell you is that the Israeli Defense Forces were fully informed in advance of the work that we were doing on road clearance in that area.”

He said that U.N. officials were “relieved that no one was hurt. But this could have been very tragic indeed.”

France, which has a large force within UNIFIL, condemned the attack, saying that the “respect of its members applies to all parties without exception.” Qatar called it a “grave violation of international humanitarian law,” and the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The attack came after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously last week to terminate the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon at the end of next year after nearly five decades, bowing to demands from the United States and Israel.

The multinational peacekeeping force has played a significant role in monitoring the security situation in southern Lebanon for decades, including during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. It has also drawn criticism from both sides and from officials in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which has moved to slash Washington’s funding for the operation as Trump remakes the U.S. approach to foreign policy.

The Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused destruction worth $11 billion, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.

The war started when Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in late September 2024.

UNIFIL said that any actions that endanger peacekeepers and assets or interfere with their tasks are unacceptable and a serious violation of international law and the resolution that ended the war. The U.N. force also said that it was the Israeli military’s responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the peacekeepers performing U.N. Security Council-mandated tasks.

The Israeli military said that its troops carried out an operation inside Lebanon on the edge of the disputed Chebaa Farms, where they detonated artillery pieces that were used by Hezbollah members during the war.

Chebaa Farms was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war, but Lebanon considers it and the nearby Kfar Chouba hills as Lebanese territory.

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Associated Press writer Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.