UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move

GENEVA — Forces in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon are maintaining their positions despite warnings from Israeli Defense Forces to move away, a spokesman for the U.N. force said Friday.

Andrea Tenenti of UNIFIL, the interim force in Lebanon, says a “unanimous” decision was taken by its 50 troop-contributing countries and the Security Council for it to hold its positions as part of its aim to monitor the conflict and work to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches needy civilians.

“The IDF has repeatedly targeted our positions, endangering the safety of our troops, in addition to Hezbollah launching rockets toward Israel from near our positions, which also puts our peacekeepers in danger,” Tenenti told a U.N. news briefing in Geneva by video.

Earlier this month, UNIFIL said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, knocking down an observation tower and injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers. Germany said Thursday that a Germany navy ship deployed as part of UNIFIL off Lebanon brought down a drone of unknown origin.

Tenenti said deteriorating security in recent weeks in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces had forced UNIFIL – which has some 10,000 personnel – to suspend most, but not all, of its patrols near the “Blue Line” boundary along the Lebanon-Israel border.

“We are seeing, at the moment, hundreds of trajectories, and sometimes more, crossing the Blue Line each day, forcing our peacekeepers to spend extended hours in shelters to ensure their safety, which remains our top priority,” he said from Beirut.

UNIFIL is staying put “despite IDF demands to move from positions close to the Blue Line,” Tenenti said, adding that the peacekeepers had 29 positions “very close — up to five kilometers” (about 3 miles) from the Blue Line.

He said he was not aware of any cases in which UNIFIL troops had fired their weapons in self-defense.

“Self-defense can be used, but we also have to be very pragmatic on when to use it and how to use it because we don’t want to become part of the conflict,” Tenenti said. “It’s up to the commanders on the ground to decide when is the time to use self-defense.”

The U.N. migration agency has reported that nearly 800,000 people have been internally displaced within Lebanon, among whom three-in-five were moved from UNIFIL’s areas of operation, he said.

Israel has accused UNIFIL of being ineffective in halting Hezbollah’s military activities and has alleged that the armed group has military infrastructure very close to peacekeeper bases.

Tenenti noted “limitations” of a Security Council resolution that underpins UNIFIL operations, such as prohibiting its forces from searching private property or homes or disarming Hezbollah.

He said UNIFIL continues to report “suspicious activities” to the Security Council, including recent claims from Israeli forces that secret tunnels have been found in the area.