Beirut, MINA– A United Nations peacekeeper stationed in southern Lebanon was killed last month by a 120mm projectile fired from an Israeli Merkava tank, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced Tuesday, concluding a formal investigation into the deadly strike.
According to UNIFIL’s findings, the round struck a UN position near the village of Adchit Al Qusayr on the night of March 29. The impact killed one peacekeeper on the spot and left a second critically wounded. Fragments recovered at the site, combined with trajectory analysis, confirmed the projectile originated from the east in the direction of Ett Taibe, an area where Israeli military assets were operating.
The UN force emphasized that it had provided the Israel Defense Forces with precise coordinates of all its positions and facilities on March 6 and again on March 22, weeks prior to the incident. Those notifications were intended to reduce operational risks to UN personnel deployed along the Blue Line.
UNIFIL reiterated that deliberate attacks against peacekeepers constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. The force added that such actions could amount to war crimes.
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At the time of the March 29 incident, UNIFIL had refrained from immediately assigning blame, stating only that the origin of the projectile was unknown and that a full investigation would follow. Tuesday’s statement marks the formal conclusion of that probe.
Neither the Israeli military nor the Israeli government had issued an official response to UNIFIL’s findings at the time of publication. The incident has raised fresh concerns over the safety of UN peacekeeping missions in southern Lebanon, where cross-border fire has intensified amid broader regional hostilities linked to the ongoing US-Iran confrontation.[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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