UPDATES WITH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT, CHANGED HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE
By Naim Berjawi
BEIRUT (AA) – Lebanon on Saturday said it will lodge an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council regarding Israel's attack on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that injured three soldiers and a civilian.
In response to the incident, the Foreign Ministry stated that it had “initiated the preparation of an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council following Israel's targeting of a patrol belonging to the UN cease-fire monitoring body, resulting in the injury of 4 individuals, some of whom are in critical condition.”
The ministry expressed its “strong condemnation of this attack, which violates international and humanitarian law.”
It clarified that the targeting of the UN peacekeepers “comes after a series of attacks on journalists, paramedics, children, women, and civilians.”
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry pointed out that “the assault on UN forces comes within the context of Israel's deliberate policy of not respecting the decisions of international legitimacy and its representatives since 1948 until today.”
In a phone call to the commander-in-chief of UNIFIL forces, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack and expressed his “solidarity with the international forces after the targeting of a UNIFIL vehicle, which led to a number of injuries,” according to the Premier’s Office.
General Lazaro informed the Lebanese prime minister that UNIFIL was investigating the incident.
Earlier on Saturday, at least one civilian and three soldiers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured in an Israeli raid that targeted their vehicle in the south of the country, according to official media.
Meanwhile, the UNIFIL expressed its concern “over the surge of violence across the Blue Line right now.”
Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army denied targeting any UNIFIL vehicle in the Rmeish area in southern Lebanon.
Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.
The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 32,700 people following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala