The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called Thursday for an “immediate” de-escalation on the border between Lebanon and Israel, the day after a deadly day during which twelve civilians including ten rescuers were killed. “UNIFIL is very concerned by the outbreak of violence (…) It is imperative that this escalation stops immediately,” the Blue Helmets said in a statement.
For almost six months, daily violence has pitted the Israeli army against Hezbollah and its allies who claim to want to support Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, 11 civilians, including ten rescuers, were killed on the Lebanese side of the border by strikes attributed to Israel, and one civilian died on the Israeli side in bombings claimed by pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
An upsurge in violence raises fears of an escalation in the conflict
In Washington, the White House also considered that a return to calm on the Israeli-Lebanese border should be “the highest priority”. For his part, the UN coordinator, Imran Riza, deplored Thursday the “unacceptable” attacks against rescue workers in Lebanon. “The tragic events of the last 36 hours have led to numerous losses of life and injuries in southern Lebanon. Up to eleven civilians were killed in a single day, including ten rescue workers,” he said. Seven rescue workers were killed in Habariyé in the south of the country in a strike on an emergency center of an association belonging to Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese Islamist group close to Hamas.
Hezbollah, for its part, announced the death of four of its fighters and two rescuers affiliated with it, while its ally the Amal movement reported the death of two of its members, including a rescuer, in strikes. Several groups in Lebanon operate health centers and emergency response operations. “Attacks on medical infrastructure violate international humanitarian law and are unacceptable,” Imran Riza added in a statement.
On Thursday, Hezbollah announced that it had bombed several locations in northern Israel, in response to the “massacre” of the day before. The pro-Iranian formation had already responded to the Habariyé attack on Wednesday by firing rockets at Kyriat Shmona, in northern Israel, where Israeli emergency services reported one death. This increase in violence raises fears of an escalation in the conflict.
UNIFIL, whose approximately 10,000 men are deployed in southern Lebanon, called on “all parties to lay down their arms and begin the process leading to a lasting political and diplomatic solution.” At least 346 people have been killed in Lebanon – mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 68 civilians – in clashes with Israel in nearly six months, according to an AFP count. This border violence also displaced thousands of people in southern Lebanon, but also in northern Israel, where according to the army, ten soldiers and eight civilians were killed.