BEIRUT

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Friday described the Israeli shelling of its headquarters in the country’s south a “serious development.” 

Israeli forces early Friday shelled an observation post belonging to UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at its headquarters in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, wounding two peacekeepers from the Sri Lankan contingent, Lebanon's state National News Agency said.

Two peacekeepers were injured in a similar attack on Thursday.

"This morning, UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters (in southern Lebanon) was affected by explosions for the second time in the last 48 hours," it said in a statement.

UNIFIL reiterated that the “safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times."

"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 1701 (2006)," it added.

Adopted on Aug. 11, 2006, the resolution calls for a complete cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line (the boundary between Lebanon and Israel) and the Litani River, allowing only the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to possess weapons and military equipment in the area.

Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon on Thursday said that Israel has recommended the UNIFIL "relocate five kilometers (3.1 miles) north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies" after the Israeli army’s artillery struck the positions of peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,351 people, injuring over 3,800 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed over 42,100 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar