Israeli forces this time bombed a market in the populous city of Nabatiya in southern Lebanon this evening, about ten kilometers from the border with Israel, the Lebanese news agency ANI reported.
The Israeli military recently called on residents of 25 locations, including Nabatiyya, home to several hospitals and regional administration centers, to move north as Israeli forces step up strikes and ground incursions into southern Lebanon.
The blue-collar workers refuse to leave South Lebanon
At the same time, the peacekeepers refused to withdraw from the border area in southern Lebanon as demanded by the Israeli army, determined to stay there despite attacks on UN peacekeepers, which left five wounded, in order to support de-escalation efforts. , their representative told AFP.
“The Israeli forces have asked us to leave our positions along the Blue Line, from the border up to five kilometers from the Blue Line,” said Andrea Tennedi, the representative of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL, FINUL). which is deployed along the Blue Line demarcating the border between Israel and Lebanon.
This UN force, numbering 10,000 men, is now in the crossfire of Israel and Hezbollah, who three weeks ago entered into open war, with Israel’s ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
While the Israeli military asked UNIFIL to evacuate “about 29 positions” near the border, the military did not mention the UNIFIL headquarters, located in Ras al-Naghura on the border, which came under repeated fire, mostly from Israelis, according to the UN organization.
“But there was a unanimous decision to stay, because the UN flag should fly in this area and we should be able to make reports to the UN Security Council,” Tennedy stressed.
On Thursday, UNIFIL accused Israeli troops of “repeatedly” and “deliberately” firing on UN Interim Force positions, prompting a wave of international criticism at the diplomatic and other levels.
Five peacekeepers have since been injured in attacks, according to the UN force.
“War Crimes”
Rome and Paris summoned Israeli ambassadors to their countries for explanations and to protest, and Italy went so far as to speak of possible “war crimes.”
For its part, Israel clarified yesterday, Friday, that it opened fire in the direction of a “threat” near a UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, where its army is conducting a wide air and ground operation against Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Hamas.
Tennedy noted that UNIFIL’s decision to remain in its positions was made despite “very, very difficult” conditions and “a lot of damage, which has happened even inside the bases.”
“Last night (Friday), containers containing blue-collar workers from Ghana were destroyed by an explosion that occurred just outside,” it said.
“The blue-collar workers are forced to live in shelters (…) and it is very difficult to live like this for 12 months, because this did not start yesterday,” said the UNIFIL representative.
Hezbollah opened a front in northern Israel in October 2023 in “support” of Hamas, which started the war in Gaza with its deadly attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Today it is “very difficult to continue monitoring activities because the shelling is incessant,” Tennedy said, while UNIFIL’s main mission is, since 1978 and then with its reinforcement in 2006 after a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, to ensure a cessation of hostilities.
“We have been attacked many times and we have spoken about it publicly,” he stressed.
“We are talking regularly with both sides to initiate a de-escalation and to warn them that attacking peacekeepers is not only a violation of Resolution 1701 but also of international humanitarian law,” he added.
For Tennedy “there is no military solution”. For this reason, he calls for “discussions at the political and diplomatic level” to “avoid disaster”.
“The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is not just a conflict between two countries. Very soon, this could be a regional conflict with devastating consequences for all.”
UNIFIL is also called upon to work with the Lebanese army in their deployment to southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah still has a presence, and to coordinate humanitarian work in the region.
“We are working with the parties to (…) bring aid to the villages” where “thousands of people are still trapped in southern Lebanon,” he said.
“We were able to move some” convoys “but in a very limited way” to the region where a year-long cross-border firing has now given way to an open war of ground fighting, Hezbollah rocket barrages and Israeli airstrikes.
Across Lebanon, more than 1,200 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes since September 23, according to Lebanese authorities.
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