UNIFIL announced that Israeli troops opened fire at its personnel from a Merkava tank stationed at a position Israel maintains inside Lebanon. The peacekeeping team, working with the Lebanese army to sustain last year’s Israel-Hezbollah truce, reported that machine-gun rounds landed just meters away. Although the peacekeepers were able to depart safely once the tank pulled back, the force stated that the shooting constitutes a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war and forms the basis of the current ceasefire. Israel has not withdrawn from five southern Lebanese areas it considers strategic and continues air and ground operations against alleged Hezbollah targets. UNIFIL noted that this incident follows earlier episodes where Israeli fire endangered its personnel and again urged the IDF to stop any actions that threaten peacekeepers.
