By Serdar Dincel
ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye on Thursday condemned Israel’s attacks targeting the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
"Israel's attack on UN forces, following its massacres of civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, is a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished. The international community is obligated to ensure that Israel abides by international law," a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
The statement said Türkiye contributes to UNIFIL's Maritime Task Force with one corvette/frigate and five personnel stationed at the UN force’s headquarters.
It added that Türkiye will continue to bolster all initiatives that aim to foster peace in the region in line with international law.
UNIFIL said earlier Thursday that its headquarters in the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura and two nearby sites had been struck by Israeli forces.
On Thursday morning, an Israeli Merkava tank fired on an observation tower, striking it directly and causing two peacekeepers to fall, sending them to hospital with minor injuries, UNIFIL said in a statement.
Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are 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 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 42,000 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.