By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House urged Israel Tuesday to respect the role of UN peacekeepers operating in Lebanon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the force to withdraw.
"UNIFIL plays an important role, a peacekeeping role, in Lebanon, and we respect that role. We want everybody to respect that role, including Israel," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, referring to the peacekeeping force.
The appeal came after Netanyahu addressed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a video message Sunday, directly telling him to "withdraw UNIFIL" from what he called "Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat" as Israel pushes its ground invasion of Lebanon.
“Mr. Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” the Israeli premier said.
The escalation in rhetoric came after a series of attacks on UNIFIL peacekeepers, the vast majority of which the force directly blamed on Israel. Several peacekeepers have been injured.
Kirby said the White House has "told Israel very directly that we oppose their near daily strikes here, in densely populated areas, in Beirut."
"We understand that they're conducting targeted operations that are designed to go after Hezbollah infrastructure, and we recognize that they have a right to do that," he said.
"But they also have a commensurate responsibility to do it in a way that doesn't threaten the lives of civilians, or UN peacekeepers or, quite frankly, members of the Lebanese armed forces who have suffered some casualties here," he added.
UNIFIL was established in March 1978 to confirm Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon and assist the Lebanese government in restoring authority in the area. Its mandate has been expanded over the years, particularly after the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, to monitor cease-fires and facilitate humanitarian aid.
Its mandate was last renewed unanimously by the UN Security Council in August.
Israel dramatically escalated its massive bombing campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,437 people, injuring over 4,123 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. More than 42,200 people, most of them women and children, have been killed since the war began in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel.
Some 1,200 people were killed in that attack, and about 250 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Less than half remain captive in the largely destroyed coastal enclave.
Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1.