New Delhi: India on Friday said it was “concerned” at the “deteriorating” security situation in parts of West Asia after the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon accused the Israeli forces of firing at its headquarters in South Lebanon.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also said New Delhi continues to monitor the situation closely amid reports that UN peacekeepers have been caught in the intensified fighting in Lebanon.
“We are concerned at the deteriorating security situation along the Blue Line. We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the MEA said.
“Inviolability of UN premises must be respected by all, and appropriate measures taken to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers and the sanctity of their mandate,” the MEA added.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has some 10,000 peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon, has called for a ceasefire since an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah on September 23.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said in a statement on October 10 that “recent escalation along the Blue Line is causing widespread destruction of towns and villages in south Lebanon.”
“This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon towards an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall,” the force said, using an acronym for the Israeli military.
“The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in the hospital,” it said, adding that “UNIFIL’s Naqura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit.”
UNIFIL condemned the attack, calling it a “grave violation of international humanitarian law.”
According to UNIFIL, the Israeli military also hit another position in Ras Naqura on Thursday. The peacekeeping force said it hit “the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system… An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance.”
Notably, UNIFIL was created by the UN Security Council in March 1978 following Israel’s “invasion” of Lebanon.
The UN peacekeeping mission has been operating along the “Blue Line,” which separates Lebanon and Israel, since the 1970s.
The 120-km Blue Line is a United Nations-recognised demarcation line to indicate that Israel had withdrawn its military from southern Lebanon.
It separates Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, but it is not an official international border.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned that concerns are mounting for the safety of United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon amid Israel’s ground incursion.
Briefing the UNSC on Thursday, Lacroix described hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as “increasingly alarming” and putting “peacekeepers at serious risk,” CNN reported.
“The safety and security of peacekeepers is now increasingly in jeopardy.”
