Three incidents that occurred on Saturday between the Israeli army and the French contingent of the UNIFIL in southern Lebanon did not result in any casualties.
Three incidents between the Israeli army and the French contingent of the UNIFIL took place on Saturday in the Naqoura area, in southern Lebanon, BFMTV learned on Monday, March 30. These events did not cause any injuries.
On Saturday morning, Israeli soldiers stationed north of Naqoura pointed their weapons at the Chief of Staff of the UNIFIL, General Paul Sanzey, and his assistant. They were returning from Beirut. They were then ordered to leave the area. The two Frenchmen were able to continue their journey to Naqoura.
Later in the afternoon, soldiers of the IDF opened fire on a logistics convoy on a resupply mission, led in part by French soldiers. Then, in the late afternoon, the Commander of the Force Commander Reserve, a rapid reaction force directly under the command of the UNIFIL commander, armed by a Franco-Finnish battalion, was the target of Israeli tank fire.
Three Blue Helmets dead in southern Lebanon within hours
These events were condemned by France through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot. He mentioned on his social networks “serious incidents suffered by the French contingent of the UNIFIL in the Naqoura area.”
“This security breaches and intimidation by soldiers of the Israeli army towards UN personnel are unacceptable and unjustifiable, especially since deconfliction procedures had been respected,” he wrote.
This comes in a particularly tense context in southern Lebanon where three Blue Helmets died within hours.
Two died in “an explosion of unknown origin” that destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan. Another, of Indonesian nationality, was killed on Sunday by the explosion of a projectile of unknown origin in the border area between Lebanon and the Israeli state.
It is “following the serious incidents suffered by the UN peacekeepers of UNIFIL” that France requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday.
Since Lebanon was plunged into a regional war on March 2 by Hezbollah, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,200 people and injured over 3,600 according to the latest official figures.
