According to the UN Task Force in South Lebanon, a fifth peacekeeper was injured Friday evening in the buffer zone.
Despite official protestsfrom Paris, Rome and Madrid, after Israeli fire injured at least two UNIFIL peacekeepers in South Lebanon at the end of the week (two others were injured by unidentified fire), the United Nations Force indicated this Saturday thata fifth soldier was injured Friday evening by shots, without being able to specify at this stage who was at the origin. These five peacekeepers were targeted in the buffer zone where some 10,000 UNIFIL men are stationed.
According to information transmitted by the United Nations contingent, UNIFIL was targeted because its command refused to obey the Israeli army which asked it to withdraw further north, into Lebanese territory.
For its part, the Lebanese crisis response unit announced Friday that 60 people were killed and 168 injured over the past 24 hours, bringing the total toll for the past year of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,229 killed and 10,380 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The number of injuries and deaths has increased significantly since Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in a “new phase” military carried out in parallel with the war in the Gaza Strip.
The President of the Iranian Parliament traveling to Beirut visited the scene of an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital which killed and injured dozens of people. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf promised that Tehran would continue to support the Lebanese and the Palestinians in their fight against Israel.
But Lebanon’s interim prime minister, Najib Mikati, said Lebanon’s priority was now to work towards a ceasefire.