UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon in crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force and other positions in south Lebanon in recent days, drawing widespread condemnation from around the world.

The force, known as UNIFIL, said new explosions hit its headquarters on Friday morning, injuring two peacekeepers, a day after Israeli forces struck the same position, injuring two others.

As Israel escalates its campaign against Hezbollah in the south, the 10,000-strong peacekeeping force is increasingly in the crosshairs, highlighting the fragility of its personnel amid an expanding ground invasion by Israel.

The attacks are taking place in the backdrop of worsening relations between Israel and the United Nations over the way Israel has conducted its war in Gaza. In an unprecedented move, Israel earlier this month said the U.N. chief was persona non grata in Israel, signaling a new low in relations.

Here’s a look at the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon and the latest developments:

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was created in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after Israel invaded and occupied south Lebanon. Israel invaded again in 1982, and it was not until 2000 that it withdrew from the country.

In the absence of an agreed-upon border, the U.N. drew up a boundary between Lebanon and Israel known as the Blue Line, which UNIFIL monitors and patrols.

The United Nations expanded UNIFIL’s original mission following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border to monitor the cessation of hostilities between the two sides and patrol a buffer zone set up along the border.

The force currently has some 10,000 peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon drawn from around 50 countries. The troops patrol, monitor and report violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 fighting. The force also provides support to local communities.

On Thursday, UNIFIL said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, knocking down an observation tower and injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

It said its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit” and that Israel “deliberately” fired on and disabled the headquarters’ monitoring cameras. It also said the Israeli army fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering.

On Friday, UNIFIL said new explosions hit its headquarters, injuring two more peacekeepers, although it did not directly blame Israel. It also said an Israeli army bulldozer hit the perimeter of another of its positions in southern Lebanon while Israeli tanks moved nearby.

The attacks drew global condemnation. Italy, which has about 1,000 soldiers deployed in south Lebanon, and France summoned the Israeli ambassadors in protest. Italy's defense minister said the attacks were possible “war crimes.” Human Rights Watch, in a statement, used similar language.

Tensions between the two sides had been mounting for days. Earlier this month, Israel asked UNIFIL to move its personnel further north, which the peacekeeping force refused to do.

“We won’t accept the justification that Israeli military forces had previously alerted UNIFIL that some of its bases had to be abandoned,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday at a press conference in Rome, calling the attacks “not an accident nor a mistake.”

The Israeli army has expressed deep concern over Thursday's incident and says it is conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command to determine the details.

On Friday, it said its soldiers were responding with fire to an immediate threat against them, adding that the army had instructed UNIFIL personnel to enter into protected spaces and remain there, hours before the incident.

It also accused Hezbollah of deliberately operating near U.N. posts, thereby endangering their personnel.

There have been several incidents during the current war where UNIFIL said that Israel had shot at patrol vehicles or shelled their positions.

The United Nations peacekeeping force has had a troubled history with Israel. In 1996, during a 17-day Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, Israel shelled a United Nations compound near the village of Qana where hundreds of displaced civilians were sheltering. The attack killed 106 civilians, including at least 37 children. Four Fijian soldiers assigned to UNIFIL were seriously injured.

The Israeli military is asking that the peacekeeping force move 5 kilometers (3 miles) north to avoid being caught in the fighting between its troops and Hezbollah militants.

That effectively would impede the peacekeeping force from doing its mission.

The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Thursday that UNIFIL would not evacuate its personnel, but because of air and ground attacks they cannot conduct patrols.

He said UNIFIL operations have virtually come to a halt since late September, when Israel expanded its campaign against Hezbollah in the south.

“Peacekeepers have been confined to their bases with significant periods of time in shelter,” he said, adding that the security environment has also presented challenges for the resupply of fuel, food and water for U.N. positions.

Later Thursday, Lacroix said 300 peacekeepers in frontline positions had been temporarily moved to larger bases, and that plans to move another 200 will depend on security conditions as the conflict escalates. He said UNIFIL had decided to reduce its footprint “at the most affected U.N. positions by 25%.”

On Oct. 3, he told reporters that in some places in southern Lebanon, the number of peacekeepers had been reduced by about 20%.

Nick Birnback, U.N. peacekeeping’s chief of strategic communications, said: “UNIFIL has remained in its positions along the Blue Line without interruption since its establishment.”

The Italian minister also reiterated that a final decision on whether to stop the UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon for security reasons is up to the U.N.