UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon says shots fired at Israeli border post

Meanwhile, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) notes one of its posts on the Lebanon-Israel border was targeted by small arms fire, with no casualties noted.

Key points

• UNIFIL at present has 7, 500 peacekeepers from around 50 countries operating in Southern Lebanon.
• UNIFIL was initially created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel's 1978 invasion, and its mandate has been renewed annually since then.
• The mission was expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
• Violence has fell since a ceasefire after a June memorandum of understanding in the US-Iran war.
• "Such deliberate attacks gravely endanger the lives of peacekeepers, " UNIFIL remarked in an official note, adding that it was investigating the incident.

Meanwhile, the UN force remarked the incident occurred on Wednesday morning with a number of rounds of small arms fire targeting a UNIFIL position near Kfar Shouba along the UN-drawn border with Israel, known as the Blue Line.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the UN Security Council decided earlier this year to set December 31 as the end of the mandate for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

In practice, the mission was expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Proponents say it remains significant to maintaining a demilitarised buffer between the two sides along the volatile Israeli and Lebanese border.

Israel has long accused UNIFIL of failing to prevent threats posed by Hezbollah and has increasingly pushed for the end of its mission since cross-border fighting escalated after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the start of Israel's war on Gaza.

Last month, Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pressed the UN on the need to "avert the vacuum" that would be caused by withdrawing the mission from the country's south without a viable replacement.

Violence has fell since a ceasefire after a June memorandum of understanding in the US-Iran war. Lebanon and Israel concluded a US- framework agreement afterwards that month.

Meanwhile, the Israel-Lebanon accord involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones".

For now, UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon says shots fired at Israeli border post remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.