Middle East
Concern for the safety of blue helmet soldiers in southern Lebanon
The leadership of the UN peacekeeping missions is concerned about the safety of the blue helmet soldiers. photo
© Taher Abu Hamdan/XinHua/dpa
A UN base on the border between Israel and Lebanon comes under fire and two soldiers are injured. The peace mission is set to continue, but criticism of Israel’s military is growing.
After the shelling of the headquarters of the UN Mission Unifil in Lebanon is growing concerned about the safety of the peacekeepers in the region. “The safety and security of peacekeepers is now increasingly at risk,” said the head of the UN peacekeeping missions, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, at the UN Security Council in New York.
According to the United Nations, Israeli troops had previously shelled the Unifil headquarters, injuring at least two UN soldiers. There were two men from Indonesia who were slightly injured. Israel’s military accused the Shiite militia Hezbollah of using areas near Blue Helmet mission bases for its own purposes.
Despite the danger, the peacekeepers want to stay in southern Lebanon for the time being. “We are here because the UN Security Council asked us to be. So we will stay until it becomes impossible for us to operate here,” said Unifil spokesman Andrea Tenenti. The UN mission has monitored the border area between Israel and Lebanon for decades. More than 10,000 UN soldiers from more than 50 countries are involved.
Growing criticism of Israeli forces
Meanwhile, criticism of the Israeli shelling of the Blue Helmets base is growing. “This is unacceptable,” said Indonesian UN Ambassador Hari Prabowo. The attack on the Unifil base is an attempt to intimidate the peace mission and the international community. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on the news platform X that any deliberate attack on peacekeepers would be a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the shelling could even constitute a war crime.
Media: Israel and USA are moving closer on Iran plans
According to a media report, the governments in Tel Aviv and Washington have come closer to planning a possible Israeli retaliatory strike against Iran. Israeli ideas are still somewhat more aggressive than the White House would like, the US news portal Axios reported, citing American and Israeli officials. However, we are moving in the right direction, said a US official after the phone call between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iran fired around 200 rockets at Israel last week. In Israel, the security cabinet discussed the type and timing of a retaliatory strike.
Report: Iran threatens Arab states if they help Israel and the USA
According to a report, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not want to support the USA in a possible Israeli retaliation against Iran. The four countries where US troops are stationed have informed the US government that their military infrastructure or airspace cannot be used by the US or Israel for offensive operations against Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported ( “WSJ”), citing US and Arab officials. In the event of an Israeli attack, Iran would respond with devastating strikes on Israel’s civilian infrastructure and retaliate against any Arab state that supported the attack. Although the Iranian threats were vague, they raised concerns in oil-rich states that their oil facilities could be hit.
Local ceasefire agreed for second round of polio vaccinations in Gaza
The second round of vaccination against polio is scheduled to start in the Gaza Strip from Monday. Around 590,000 children under the age of ten will then be vaccinated, as Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell announced on the X platform. For this purpose, area-specific humanitarian ceasefires have been agreed. “It is critical that these breaks are respected by all parties. Without them, it is impossible to vaccinate children,” Russell wrote. The first round of polio vaccinations in the Gaza Strip began in early September. The Israeli armed forces observed pauses in fighting for limited periods of time and space.