Biden says 'absolutely' asking Israel to not hit UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden said on Friday he is asking Israel to not target UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

"Absolutely, positively," Biden told reporters when asked if he was asking Israel to stop hitting UN peacekeepers.

His remarks came after Israeli forces early Friday shelled an observation post belonging to UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at its headquarters in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, wounding two peacekeepers from the Sri Lankan contingent, Lebanon's state National News Agency said.

Two peacekeepers were also injured in a similar attack on Thursday.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,351 people, injuring over 3,800 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed over 42,100 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.