Israel again fires at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, reports say

Lebanon's state news agency reports that the injured soldiers are from the Sri Lankan contingent of Unifil, the peacekeeping mission established to ensure humanitarian access to civilians in the region.

On Thursday, two Indonesian soldiers were injured falling from an observation tower after an Israeli tank fired towards it, prompting international censure.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, saying before the latest incident that it was "intolerable and cannot be repeated".

Israeli ground forces launched an ground invasion into southern Lebanon last month as they escalated their response to rocket fire from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near daily cross-border fire since last October, when the Palestinian armed group Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Friday's incident involved an Israeli Merkava tank firing toward a Unifil tower on a road linking Tyre and Naqoura, two cities that sit on the coastline in southern Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has yet to publicly comment on the incident.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday’s attack was "a crime which is directed at the international community".

"Targeting the United Nations security force violates its sanctity," he added.

The UK government said it was "appalled" by reports of the attack.

A Downing Street spokesperson told reporters: "It is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected."

On Thursday Unifil said an IDF Merkava tank fired at an observation tower at its headquarters in Naqoura. Two peacekeepers suffered minor injuries but remain in hospital, it said.

While Unifil noted that there had been clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in the area, it called attacks on peacekeepers a "grave violation of international law".

The IDF said it had fired at the base after ordering personnel stationed there to remain in "protected places".

In Thursday's statement Unifil said its positions in southern Lebanon had been "repeatedly hit" in the fighting. It highlighted one incident in which IDF soldiers fired on one of its positions in Labbouneh, near the Israeli border, "hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system".

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has told the UN Security Council that the peacekeepers were increasingly in jeopardy.

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, reiterated his nation's call for Unifil personnel to withdraw north by 5km (3 miles) to "avoid danger" - but Mr Lacroix said they would remain in position in line with their UN mandate.

Mr Danon said Israel was "fulfilling our obligation" to a 2004 UN resolution calling for the disbanding of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militant groups, according to the Reuters news agency.

He also called for Lebanon's armed forces to be deployed to the south to "do the job".

About 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff.

Since 1978, they have patrolled the area between the Litani River and the UN-recognised boundary between Lebanon and Israel - known as the "Blue Line".

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October last year, the day after Hamas's deadly attack on southern Israel. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and has said it will stop firing if there is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Over the past three weeks Israel has dramatically escalated its campaign against Hezbollah, intensifying air strikes against southern Lebanon and southern parts of Beirut, assassinating Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah and launching a ground invasion.

Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed, mainly in the recent escalation, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. This week Hezbollah rocket fire has killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai national, Israeli authorities say.

-BBC