THE United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon says Israeli tanks have forced entry at one of its positions, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN to evacuate its troops from the area.
The incident is the latest in a series of violations and attacks by Israeli forces on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in recent days and comes as Israel expands its bombardment and ground attacks on Lebanon.
UNIFIL said in a statement on Sunday that two Israeli tanks “destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position”.
Soon after the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres (328 feet) away, releasing smoke that blew across the base and sickened UN personnel, causing 15 to require treatment despite wearing gas masks, UNIFIL said. It did not say who fired the shells or what sort of toxic substance it suspected.
In its account of events, the Israeli military said fighters from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah had fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops, wounding 25 of them. The attack was very close to a UNIFIL post and a tank that was helping evacuate the casualties under fire then backed into the UNIFIL post.
“It is not storming a base. It is not trying to enter a base. It was a tank under heavy fire, mass casualty event, backing up to get out of harm’s way,” the military’s international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, told reporters.
In a statement, the military said it used a smoke screen to provide cover for the evacuation of the wounded soldiers but its actions posed no danger to the UN peackeeping force.
The incident occurred hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN to evacuate the peacekeeping force from combat areas in Lebanon.
“The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones,” Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The Israeli army “has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields”, Netanyahu added.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati slammed Netanyahu’s demand.
“The warning that Netanyahu addressed to … Guterres demanding the removal of the UNIFIL represents a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international [norms],” he said.
