Paris calls for emergency UN Security Council meeting after three 'blue helmets' killed in Lebanon
France has requested the convening of an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) following the “extremely serious incidents suffered by UNIFIL peacekeeping forces”, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on Monday in a message on platform X, quoted by AFP.
Paris “condemns in the strongest terms the attacks that caused the death of three members of the Blue Helmets of the UN Peace Mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Sunday and Monday,” said Jean-Noël Barrot, notes Agerpres.
This force, made up of nearly 8,200 soldiers from 47 countries, is caught in the crossfire between Israel and the pro-Iranian Shiite group Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the war between Israel and the United States on the one hand and Iran on the other with an attack on March 2.
Since then, UNIFIL has been targeted by gunfire on several occasions.
“France also condemns the serious incidents suffered yesterday (Sunday) by the French UNIFIL contingent in the Naqoura area,” he added.
“These violations of security and intimidation by Israeli army soldiers against UN personnel are unacceptable and unjustified, especially since the procedures for avoiding conflicts were respected”, estimated the French minister, emphasizing that these condemnations were “conveyed in the strongest terms to the ambassador of Israel in Paris”.
In addition, Jean-Noël Barrot urged all parties to respect the safety of UN personnel.
During the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in the fall of 2024, UNIFIL had already accused Israeli troops of “repeated” and “deliberate” attacks on its positions.
UNIFIL is deployed between the Litani River and the Lebanese-Israeli border, and its headquarters are in Ras al-Naqoura, near the border with Israel.
An Indonesian member of the Blue Helmets was killed on Sunday by a projectile of unknown origin near the border town of Adchit Al Qusayr. On Monday, two more soldiers were killed in an explosion of unknown origin near Bani Hayyan, another border town, and several others were wounded.
