UN mission worries about security of peacekeepers amid confrontation along the Israel-Lebanon border

 UN mission worries about security of peacekeepers amid confrontation along the Israel-Lebanon border

November 3, Beirut (IANS): Concerns about its locations being struck during the continuing gunfire on Lebanon's border with Israel during the blazing conflict in Gaza have been voiced by UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

The mission's spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, said late Thursday that "two shells fell and exploded the previous afternoon, 10 meters from a UNIFIL site near the municipality of Beit Lif in southern Lebanon, sustaining serious damage to a wall and slight harm to a UNIFIL vehicle."

The spokesperson was reported by the Xinhua news agency as stating, "Fortunately, the officers were in basements at the time, no one was hurt, and we commenced an investigation."

He repeated UNIFIL's "grave concern" that troops and any civilians who could take shelter there were put in risk when bombs were dropped on their positions during the firefight.

A peacekeeper was injured on October 28 when two rounds detonated at a UNIFIL post close to the town of Houla.

The situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border escalated on October 8, when Hezbollah, an organization headquartered in Iran, launched several missiles into Israeli military locations in retaliation for Hamas's unannounced assault on the Jewish state on October 7.

The same day, in retaliation, Israeli soldiers opened fire on the southeast region of Lebanon with heavy artillery.

Sixty-six people have died in Lebanon as a consequence of the sporadic clashes; among them are nine terrorists from Islamic Jihad and Hamas and fifty members of Hezbollah.

There were also seven civilians among the dead.