An Israeli airstrike has killed two Lebanese soldiers and wounded three others, hours after the Israeli military fired on the headquarters of a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for the second time in two days. The incidents on Friday have raised further concerns over Israel's escalating campaign in Lebanon, which has involved heavy airstrikes across the country.
The Lebanese army said its soldiers died in an Israeli airstrike near a military checkpoint in the southern Bint Jbeil province. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that it had been targeting Hezbollah positions and was unaware of any Lebanese army facilities in the area. Lebanon's army has not been involved in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and withdrew its forces from the border when Israel launched its invasion last month.
Earlier on Friday, two Sri Lankan members of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were injured when the IDF opened fire near their base in Naqoura. The Israeli army said its soldiers had targeted what they believed to be a threat 50 metres from the base and would examine the circumstances. On Thursday, two Indonesian Unifil peacekeepers were lightly wounded when an Israeli tank round hit their observation tower.
The shelling of UN positions has come as the conflict, which began a year ago in Gaza, continues to spread. Overnight Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut killed 22 people in a densely populated residential neighbourhood. In Gaza, at least 30 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the northern town of Jabaliya and its refugee camp, according to the Gaza civil defence agency.
US President Joe Biden said he was asking Israel not to hit UN peacekeepers, while UN Secretary General António Guterres described attacks on the peacekeeping force as intolerable. Unifil spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said the attacks had impaired the peacekeepers' ability to monitor the conflict, with 350,000 of 500,000 residents in southern Lebanon having fled their homes.
