UN peacekeepers say Israeli tanks 'forcibly entered' position in Lebanon

By Wassim Seifeddine

BEIRUT (AA) - The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Sunday said that two Israeli tanks “forcibly entered” a Blue Helmet position in the town of Ramyeh in southern Lebanon.

In a statement, UNIFIL said: “Early this morning, peacekeepers at a UN position in Ramyah observed three platoons of Israeli soldiers crossing the Blue Line into Lebanon.”

“At around 4:30 a.m., while peacekeepers were in shelters, two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position,” the statement said.

The Israeli army requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights, it added.

“The tanks left about 45 minutes later after UNIFIL protested through our liaison mechanism, saying that Israeli army presence was putting peacekeepers in danger,” the statement said.

“For the fourth time in as many days, we remind the Israeli army and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times,” it said.

“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL warned.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN to withdraw its peacekeeping mission from southern Lebanon amid an incursion in the area.

“It is time for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language message to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes 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 its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed more than 42,200 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 an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala