Four UN peacekeepers injured by rocket fire in Lebanon

The U.N. peace agency in southern Lebanon said four of its troops were injured when a rocket hit a base, one of three separate incidents in which its troops and bases came under fire on Tuesday.

Four Ghanaian peacekeepers were injured, three of whom required hospital treatment, after a rocket struck a base in the eastern village of Ramyah near the border with Israel, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said. The severity of their injuries is unknown.

Unifil also said a base in Shama was damaged by rocket fire, with “non-state actors in Lebanon” most likely responsible. There were no injuries.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which is organizing a ground invasion of southern Lebanon against Hezbollah, blamed the Lebanese armed group for both cases of rocket fire. Hezbollah has not commented.

Also on Tuesday, a Unifil patrol was fired upon as the group passed along a road northeast of the village of Khirbat Silim, with no injuries reported.

In a statement on social media, Unifil condemned the attacks on its people and infrastructure.

“The pattern of regular attacks – direct or indirect – against peacekeepers must end immediately,” the statement said.

“Any attack on peacekeepers is a blatant violation of international law and resolution 1701, which forms the basis of UNIFIL’s current mandate.”

According to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, the UN’s intention was to create an area in the south free of forces other than those of the Lebanese Army .

However, Israel accuses Unifil of turning a blind eye to the growth of Hezbollah, which now controls the official Lebanese army. Hezbollah is banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, Britain, the US and other countries.

Tensions between Israel and the UN over their peacekeeping operations in southern Lebanon have escalated in recent months, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on armed forces to withdraw from “combat zones”.

A Unifil spokesperson in Geneva said UN peacekeepers saw an increase in violence, with “massive, shocking” destruction along the Blue Line – the UN-recognised border separating Israel and Lebanon.

Israel’s goal in launching a ground invasion and escalating airstrikes on Hezbollah targets is to allow the return of some 60,000 residents displaced from communities in the north of the country due to Hezbollah’s rocket fire.

The Lebanese group launched its campaign the day after Hamas attacks on southern Israel last year, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 3,840 people and injured nearly 15,000 others in the past year, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.

On Tuesday, the Lebanese army said three of its soldiers had been killed in an Israeli attack on an army center in the city of Safarand.

Israeli attacks have displaced more than a million people, adding to pressure on a country already struggling to cope after years of severe economic crisis.

Hezbollah’s own attacks have killed at least 31 soldiers and 45 civilians in Israel, Israeli authorities say. Another 45 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army has destroyed large parts of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and killed many of its leaders, but the group continues to carry out daily attacks, although not with the same intensity.

Ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified, resulting in the Lebanese government respond to a draft deal presented by the US.