US President Joe Biden said today that he is asking Israel not to target United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces in Lebanon.
“Absolutely, positively,” Biden told reporters when asked if he would ask Israel to stop attacking UN peacekeepers.
His remarks came after Israeli forces shelled an observation post belonging to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, wounding two peacekeepers from the Sri Lankan contingent early this morning, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
Two peacekeepers were also injured in a similar attack on Thursday.
Israel has launched massive airstrikes across Lebanon on what it says are Hezbollah targets since September 23, killing more than 1,351 people and wounding more than 3,800 others.
The air campaign represents an escalation in the year-long cross-border war between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 42,100 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region is on the brink of regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv widened the conflict by launching a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on October 1, AA writes.
