3 UN peacekeepers injured in Israeli attack in Lebanon

By Naim Berjawi

BEIRUT (AA) - At least three soldiers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured on Saturday in an Israeli raid that targeted their vehicle in the south of the country, according to official media.

“A four-wheel-drive vehicle belonging to UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organization) truce observers near Point B37 on the Blue Line, on the border with occupied Palestine, was subjected to an Israeli attack at approximately 10:15 a.m. this morning,” the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

It added that the vehicle was “targeted by a direct missile, which resulted in the injury of three officers and a civilian translator, one of them was critically injured.”

“Rescue operation is currently underway to transport the injured by UNIFIL helicopter,” it added.

Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army claimed that it did not target any UNIFIL vehicle in the Rmeish area in southern Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 32,600 people following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi