March 30 (Reuters) – The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said a peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.
Another peacekeeper was critically injured, it said in a statement early on Monday.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry said on Monday the deceased peacekeeper was one of its citizens and that three others were injured by “indirect artillery fire” in the vicinity of the Indonesian UNIFIL contingent’s position near Adchit al-Qusayr.
“We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances,” UNIFIL said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterre strongly condemned the incident, saying attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes. He called for accountability and urged all parties to ensure the safety of U.N. personnel.
UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel – an area that is at the heart of clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
The mission, which will be halted at the end of 2026, has been sporadically caught in the crosshairs of both Israel and Hezbollah over the last couple of years.
On March 6, Ghana’s armed forces said the headquarters of its U.N. peacekeeping battalion in Lebanon was hit by missile attacks, leaving two soldiers critically injured.
Israel’s military later acknowledged that its tank fire had hit a U.N. position in southern Lebanon that day, wounding the Ghanaian peacekeepers.
The military said its troops had responded to anti-tank missile fire from Hezbollah, which had moderately wounded two of its soldiers.
“Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger,” UNIFIL said.
Indonesia condemned the incident and said any harm to peacekeepers is unacceptable, while reiterating its condemnation “of Israel’s attacks in Southern Lebanon.”
Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the United States. Hezbollah’s attack prompted a new Israeli offensive against the group.
(Reporting by Hatem Maher, Muhammad Al Gebaly, and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta Editing by Edmund Klamann, Jonathan Oatis and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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