The Israelis have produced evidence of Hezbollah positions built close to the bases of United Nations peacekeeping troops (UNIFIL) with the apparent intention of using the peacekeepers as human shields.
This is the latest stage in a major argument between Israel and the United Nations organisation, which has accused Israeli troops of deliberately targeting UNIFIL positions.
UN secretary general António Guterres has warned that any attack on the peacekeepers may constitute a war crime, and said UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted.
But the Israelis say that Hezbollah has fired 25 rockets and missiles at Israeli communities and troops from compounds close to UNIFIL bases over the past month, adding that one of those attacks killed two Israeli soldiers.
The Israelis have discovered hundreds of weapons, including grenades and rocket launchers, stored in Hezbollah tunnels located between 30 and 300 metres away from UNIFIL posts in southern Lebanon. They see this as a major failure by the peacekeepers who were supposed to ensure compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, explained that Israel’s request for UNIFIL troops to move five kilometres north of the border, in order to get out of the line of fire, has not been accepted. He went on to say,
“The UN’s insistence on keeping the UNIFIL soldiers in the line of fire is incomprehensible.”
This YouTube report from All Israel News: