Lebanon Residents Wound UN Peacekeeper, Block Convoy twice

UN peacekeeper gestures to his colleague during a Reuters' visit to Camp Shamrock where Irish and Polish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed near Maroun al-Ras village close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
UN peacekeeper gestures to his colleague during a Reuters' visit to Camp Shamrock where Irish and Polish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed near Maroun al-Ras village close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
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Lebanon Residents Wound UN Peacekeeper, Block Convoy twice

UN peacekeeper gestures to his colleague during a Reuters' visit to Camp Shamrock where Irish and Polish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed near Maroun al-Ras village close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
UN peacekeeper gestures to his colleague during a Reuters' visit to Camp Shamrock where Irish and Polish peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed near Maroun al-Ras village close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, in southern Lebanon November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

A UN peacekeeper in southern Lebanon was hurt when a group of young men attacked a patrol and tried to stop it from moving through their village, the UN mission said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday night when residents of the village of Taybeh briefly blocked the peacekeepers' patrol travelling through the area, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement.

The man wounded was an Indonesian soldier, a security source said. A vehicle was damaged, UNIFIL said.

It called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Such attacks “are not only condemnable, but they are violations of Resolution 1701 and Lebanese law,” UNIFIL said on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to a UN Security Council resolution that ended a monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

In a second incident on Thursday morning, a peacekeepers' convoy travelling to UNIFIL's eastern headquarters through the border village of Kfar Kila was briefly blocked by residents, who let them go ahead after a brief discussion, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said.

A Lebanese security source said a group of men had hit the UNIFIL vehicles with sticks and rocks.

The reason for the actions was not clear but in previous incidents, local people have objected to UNIFIL peacekeepers driving military vehicles through residential areas.

The area has been particularly tense since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah has been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that triggered the war.

Israel shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle that had crossed into its territory from Lebanon on Thursday, the military said. Air raid sirens had sounded in northern Israel and there were no immediate reports of casualties.



Israel Pessimistic about Ceasefire Deal with Lebanon

Damage caused by Israeli raids in Lebanon. (AP)
Damage caused by Israeli raids in Lebanon. (AP)
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Israel Pessimistic about Ceasefire Deal with Lebanon

Damage caused by Israeli raids in Lebanon. (AP)
Damage caused by Israeli raids in Lebanon. (AP)

The United States' special envoy for the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, decided to extend his visit to Beirut until Wednesday, political sources in Tel Aviv said. The envoy, who was expected in Israel on Wednesday morning, will arrive there by Thursday at the latest.

Despite the positive signals from Washington about Hochstein’s visit to the Lebanese capital, Israelis cast doubt on the likelihood that a deal could be reached to end the war on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The sources said US officials are very serious about reaching a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war. “Coordination is ongoing between the administration of President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, who are both determined to end the war,” the sources stressed.

As evidence, they said, Washington has decided to place a US general at the head of a military technical committee tasked to achieve the total deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon.

However, Israel is skeptical. It believes Hezbollah is maneuvering and will not accept the Israeli terms of the US proposal.

The sources said the Israeli army is indirectly taking part in the Hochstein-led negotiations by exerting pressure on Lebanon and intensifying its attacks on the capital, not just its southern suburbs where Hezbollah has a strong presence, as well as the South and eastern Bekaa region.

Former head of Israeli Defense Intelligence Professor Amos Yadlin, who held a meeting with Hochstein recently, revealed that the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon is making great progress.

He said a deal could be announced this weekend. “The most important thing is that the agreement between Israel and Washington on the US guarantees is ready. If an agreement is reached in Beirut on those guarantees, a ceasefire deal will be signed and put into effect,” Yadlin said.

Biden sent a message to Israel that the US administration will not only serve as a guarantor to Israel, but it has also given it legitimacy in its right to self-defense, he revealed.

“In Washington, they agree with us that Israel has cancelled its known MABAM doctrine (the ‘war between the wars’), and is now ready to wage a war whenever it is attacked. Hochstein and other mutual friends of Israel and Lebanon have made this clear, but this policy has to be understood in Lebanon, Syria and Iran,” he added.

Meanwhile, the majority of officials close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain pessimistic about reaching a ceasefire deal with Lebanon.

The right-wing newspaper Israel Hayom quoted an Israeli political source as saying that “an agreement is not likely to be reached in the near future.”

Instead, it said, the Israeli military has approved plans to attack the southern suburbs of Beirut, carry out assassinations wherever possible, even in the majority-Christian part of east Beirut and continue to target Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right minister of finance, said, “We will not agree to any arrangement that is not worth the paper it is written on.”

Addressing the ceasefire efforts, Netanyahu told a Knesset meeting that “the important thing is not the piece of paper.”