Three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.
Two peacekeepers were killed on Monday after an explosion from an unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL said in a statement. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast.
Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group’s positions close to the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr. Another peacekeeper was critically injured at the time.
The death on Sunday was the first among the U.N.’s peacekeeping force in the new war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah which erupted on March 2.
“These are two separate incidents and we are investigating them as two separate incidents,” said UNIFIL’s spokesperson Kandice Ardiel.
In response to the first death, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said on Monday the deceased peacekeeper was one of its citizens and that three others were injured by “indirect artillery fire”.
Indonesia condemned “in the strongest terms” the second attack, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
“This cannot be treated as an isolated occurrence, but reflects a rapidly deteriorating security environment in southern Lebanon, where ongoing Israeli military operations have placed United Nations peacekeepers at grave risk,” it said.
In a post on X on Tuesday, the country’s Foreign Minister Sugiono called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting and “for a swift, thorough, and transparent investigation” into the “heinous attack” after speaking with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Israel’s military said early on Tuesday it is aware of the reports regarding the two incidents and they are being reviewed thoroughly to determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah or the military’s activity.
Guterres said attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.
“We strongly condemn these unacceptable incidents – peacekeepers must never be a target,” the U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters in a briefing on Monday.
UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel – an area that is at the heart of clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the United States. Hezbollah’s attack prompted a new Israeli ground and air offensive.
More than 1,240 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. They include more than 120 children, nearly 80 women and dozens of paramedics.
More than 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since March 2, according to two sources familiar with Hezbollah’s count.
Source: Reuters
