BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS – Two were killed and two others wounded, one seriously, when an explosion destroyed their vehicle near the town of Bani Hayyan in southern Lebanon on Monday, UNIFIL said in a statement.
The blast is the second deadly incident involving UNIFIL personnel in 24 hours. A peacekeeper from the mission’s Indonesian contingent was killed earlier when a projectile struck the unit’s headquarters.
UNIFIL said it has launched an investigation into the vehicle explosion. UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters that the two soldiers killed near Bani Hayyan were also Indonesian.
The mission called on all parties to respect international law, warning that deliberate attacks on peacekeepers violate humanitarian law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and could constitute war crimes. “The human cost of this conflict is far too high. The violence must end,” the statement said.
Cross-border fighting has escalated along the Lebanon-Israel frontier since March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on Nov 27, 2024, prompting intensified Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon.
Lacroix said the UN remains seriously concerned about incidents of aggressive behavior against UNIFIL peacekeepers in the past couple of days.
“All acts that endanger the peacekeepers must stop. All actors must adhere to their obligations to ensure the safety and security of the peacekeepers at all times,” Lacroix told a daily briefing.
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“The inviolability of United Nations installations must be respected,” he said.
Despite these incidents, UN peacekeepers remain on the ground, carrying out Security Council-mandated tasks and demonstrating “utmost courage and commitment to advancing international peace and security far away from home, he added.