Malaysia, Indonesia condemn Israeli attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

By Anadolu staff

Malaysia and Indonesia strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

In a statement issued late Friday, Malaysian Foreign Ministry said these continuing indiscriminate attacks targeting UN personnel and innocent civilian populations are a grave violation of international law.

"Malaysia also condemns airstrikes by the Zionist Israeli regime the same day on the densely populated residential area in Ras el-Nabaa and al-Nuweiri in central Beirut, which killed 22 people and injured dozens of others," it said.

Malaysia urged the international community to take bold action to end Israel’s impunity and compel it to adhere to international laws and comply with Security Council resolutions.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry also condemned the Israeli attack and called it a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 1701.

Israeli forces early Friday shelled an observation post belonging to UN peacekeepers at its headquarters in Naqoura in southern Lebanon, wounding two peacekeepers from the Sri Lankan contingent, according to Lebanon's state National News Agency.

Two peacekeepers were also injured in a similar attack 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.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid