Ireland 'deeply concerned' over Israeli shelling of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) — Ireland's prime minister on Thursday said he was "deeply concerned" by reports that the Israeli army fired artillery at the positions of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, as well as their headquarters in the southern city of Naqoura.

"Firing on peacekeepers can never be tolerated or acceptable. The Blue Helmet worn by UN peacekeepers must be sacrosanct," Simon Harris said in a statement.

Earlier the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said that its headquarters in Naqoura and other sites have been repeatedly shelled by Israeli forces, leaving two peacekeepers injured.

Expressing his solidarity with military personnel who suffered light injuries result, he said Irish troops serving with UNIFIL continued to carry out their mission "with distinction, despite the extremely difficult circumstances."

"They are serving on behalf of the international community in some of the most challenging places in the world. They are not combatants, and their role must be respected at all times," Harris noted.

He reiterated his call to all sides of the conflict in Lebanon for an immediate cease-fire, which could facilitate the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701 and provide security to civilian populations in Israel and Lebanon.

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.