Finland condemns Israeli firing on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) – Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Thursday condemned Israel's military attacks on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters and critical positions of the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, which injured two troops.

According to UNIFIL, an Israeli tank "fired its weapon" at a guard tower at the peacekeeping force headquarters in Naqoura, near the border with Israel.

Orpo strongly reacted to the Israeli attacks, describing the firing at the UN troops as “highly condemnable,” and calling for a thorough investigation, national broadcaster Yle reported.

“The case is very serious,” he was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers "deliberately fired at and disabled" the forces' "monitoring cameras," UNIFIL said in a statement.

Separately, the Israeli army fired on a UN position in the village of Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker “where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system,” UNIFIL confirmed.

An Israeli military drone was seen flying inside the bunker while UN forces were positioned near the entrance, it said.

The Israeli military also “deliberately fired” on a second UN position on the border area of Ras Naqoura, “damaging lighting and a relay station,” according to UNIFIL.

There was no immediate comment from Tel Aviv.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,323 people, injuring over 3,700 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed over 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.