Israel faces UN anger after peacekeepers hit

AFP | Beirut                                           

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A diplomatic backlash has erupted after Israel’s troops allegedly injured four UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, prompting Israel to launch a “thorough review” into the incident yesterday.

UN peacekeepers patrolling the Lebanese side of the border with Israel have been thrust into the violence of the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, and displaced a million others.

The UN peacekeeping mission said two more of its members were wounded yesterday -- after two Indonesian Blue Helmets were injured on Thursday -- leading the Israeli army to say it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command”.

The Israeli statement also said the peacekeepers had been “inadvertently hurt” during fighting pitting Israeli troops against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The incidents have sparked a wave of condemnation including from Israeli allies in the White House, Britain and the EU, while France yesterday said it had summoned the Israeli ambassador.

The UN force warned yesterday of “very serious risks” for their Blue Helmets after explosions wounded two of them near the Israeli border. The UN mission had on Thursday said its headquarters and nearby positions were “repeatedly hit”, and that two peacekeepers had been wounded.

“These attacks constitute serious violations of international law and must cease immediately. The Israeli authorities must explain themselves,” the French foreign ministry said. The incidents came nearly three weeks into Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has seen Israeli warplanes conduct extensive strikes since September 23 on the Iran-backed militants’ strongholds and ground troops deployed across the border.

Yesterday, air raid sirens were activated across areas of northwestern Israel after 80 projectiles were fired from Lebanon, the army said. ‘Immediate ceasefire’ Also yesterday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a resolution calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire”.

Calling for the Lebanese army and peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the south of the country, he said that “Hezbollah is in agreement on this issue” -- though the group has yet to comment on his speech.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is heavily armed and controls large swathes of Lebanon, and successive Lebanese governments have failed to subdue it. Hezbollah has fought Israel numerous times in recent decades, while the weak Lebanese military has been mostly unable to deploy in many areas under the militants’ control.

Lebanon’s army said an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two of its soldiers yesterday. The worst-affected areas in the war are home to majority Shiite Muslims, where Hezbollah built its support base by providing protection and services in a state long wracked by sectarianism and corruption. But Christian villagers near the border have also been trapped in the cross-fire. “When Israel bombards, it flies over our heads.

And when Hezbollah fires back, it also whizzes by above,” Christian Joseph Jarjour told AFP by phone from the border village of Rmeish.