BEIRUT — Four United Nations military observers were injured on Saturday while patrolling the southern Lebanese border after a grenade exploded near them, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said.
The military observers are part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, which supports the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL.
Local Lebanese media, citing security officials, said an Israeli drone strike targeted observers in the southern village of Wadi Katmoun near the border town of Rmeich. The Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television station said the drone strike injured three officers from Australia, Chile and Norway, as well as a Lebanese interpreter.
The Israeli military said on social media platform
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said they were “investigating the origins of the explosion.”
“Attacking peacekeepers is unacceptable,” Tenenti told The Associated Press. “We reiterate our call on all actors to end the current intense firefights before more people are unnecessarily injured.”
This came after clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah militants escalated in recent weeks. Both sides have exchanged fire since the Israeli-Hamas war broke out in Gaza, raising concerns that near-daily clashes along the border could escalate into full-scale war as tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the violence.
The fighting has so far killed nine civilians and eleven soldiers in Israel, while more than 240 Hezbollah fighters and about fifty civilians have been killed in Lebanon.
UNIFIL was established to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon following the 1978 Israeli invasion. The UN expanded its mission after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to be deployed along the Israeli border to to help the Lebanese army extend its authority to the south of the country for the first time in decades.