Israel claims:

Hezbollah weapons cache near UN bases

UNIFIL base in Chiyam in southern Lebanon

(Bild: APA/AFP/ANWAR AMRO)

It shoots at UNIFIL bases, injuring blue helmet soldiers and even violently breaking through an entrance gate. Israel sees the internationally highly controversial action in Lebanon as justified: positions and weapons depots of the pro-Iranian militia Hezbollah are said to be in the immediate vicinity of the UN troops.

The Israeli military announced on Sunday evening that around 25 rockets had been fired at Israeli communities and troops from Hezbollah positions near UNIFIL posts in the past month. Two soldiers were killed in one of these attacks.

In the course of the ground operations, the IDF has now reportedly discovered underground weapons caches located only "a few dozen to a few hundred meters" from UNIFIL posts. Over the years, Hezbollah has deliberately built up its attack infrastructure in the vicinity of UN peacekeeping mission positions.

UNIFIL base in Chiyam, southern Lebanon

(Bild: APA/AFP/ANWAR AMRO)

Israel insists on relocation of UNIFIL
After UN peacekeepers were fired on during battles between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for restraint. Personnel and posts of UNIFIL troops should never be targeted, he said through a spokesperson. In response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call for UNIFIL troops to be withdrawn from the combat zones in southern Lebanon, Guterres said that the peacekeeping force would remain at its bases there.

UNIFIL's task is to monitor compliance with the ceasefire following the 2006 Lebanon war. Although the force of more than 10,000 UN soldiers is armed, it does not have a so-called robust mandate - in other words, it can essentially only use its weapons in self-defense.