Those injured in the attack are a Chilean woman, a Norwegian man, an Australian man and his Lebanese translator.
MADRID, 31 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it will present an “urgent” complaint to the UN Security Council for Saturday’s “attack” against a team of international observers that it attributes to Israel and that it considers violates “international law and humanitarian”. A Chilean woman, a Norwegian man, an Australian man and his Lebanese translator were injured.
Beirut has thus criticized “the attacks against UN peacekeepers, which follow attacks against journalists, rescue workers, children, women and civilians”, according to the Lebanese newspaper ‘L’Orient Le Jour’.
The Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdalá Bu Habib, has already spoken with the commander in chief of UNIFIL, Spanish General Aroldo Lázaro, and has called on countries concerned about guaranteeing peace and security to “guarantee the safety of employees to protect civilians and intervene quickly to end Israeli violations by fully implementing UN Resolution 1701” that ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The acting Lebanese Prime Minister, Nayib Mikati, has also condemned this “attack” and has discussed what happened with General Lázaro, to convey his “solidarity” and “condemn this serious incident on behalf of the Lebanese Government.”
Mikati was informed by General Lázaro of the beginning of the UNIFIL investigation to clarify what happened, according to the Lebanese Government note collected by the NNA.
This Sunday, the Australian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the fourth person injured in the attack was a member of the Australian Armed Forces who was injured while “conducting a routine patrol to monitor activity near the Israeli-Lebanese border,” television reports. Australian ABC.
“Defence is taking appropriate measures to ensure the safety and well-being of this person,” the Australian Ministry of Defense added.
A spokesperson for the Norwegian Armed Forces, Hanne Olafsen, confirmed on Saturday that a Norwegian citizen was slightly injured and is hospitalized in Tyre, according to the newspaper ‘Aftenposten’.
From Chile, the Ministry of Defense reported that Army Major Antonieta Durán Arriagada was traveling in the attacked convoy and “resulted in injuries that keep her hospitalized, not at risk of life, at the Saint George Hospital in Beirut.” Durán is already accompanied by the Chilean ambassador to Lebanon, Carlos Morán.
The team was attacked in the Lebanese town of Rmeish, in the south of the country, while patrolling on foot along the Blue Line of separation with Israel when “an explosion occurred near their position,” according to the Interim Force of the United Nations for Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The three military observers are part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), parent company of UNIFIL, and collaborate with the ‘blue helmets’ in their tasks to implement the mandate stipulated by the UN Security Council. .
UNIFIL has reported that it is currently “investigating the origin of the explosion” without giving further details for now of an incident that, according to the official Lebanese news agency NNA, could be due to an attack by an Israeli drone. However, the Israel Defense Forces have denied any involvement in what happened.
Be that as it may, UNIFIL demands “guarantees for the safety of United Nations personnel” and recalls that “all actors have the responsibility, under international humanitarian law, to ensure the protection of non-combatants, including maintenance personnel.” peacekeepers, journalists, medical personnel and civilians,” according to the statement.
Only two days ago, UNIFIL warned of an “escalation of violence” along the so-called Blue Line, the demarcation between Lebanon and Israel established by the UN almost a quarter of a century ago, and now the scene of constant artillery crossings between Israel and the militias of the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah practically since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
“This escalation has caused a high number of deaths among civilians and destroyed homes and ways of life,” UNIFIL noted this past Thursday before urging all parties to “lay down their weapons and begin the process towards a political and sustainable diplomacy”.
