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 attack.
The peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL 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 did not intentionally target the peacekeepers but dropped several sonic bombs near a suspect in a border area. It added that contact was made 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 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 (0.6 miles) from the border line.
“Out of concern for the safety of peacekeepers following the incident, yesterday’s work was suspended,” UNIFIL said.
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 in November.
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 U.S. funding for the operation as Trump remakes America’s approach to foreign policy.
The Israel-Hezbollah war killed over 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, one 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 last year.
UNIFIL said 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 and that it was the Israeli military's responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the peacekeepers performing Security Council-mandated tasks.
The Israeli military said 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 territories.
