Three killed and UN peacekeepers hurt by Israeli strike in Lebanon
Lebanon’s army says an Israeli strike in Sidon in Lebanon’s south killed three people and wounded both troops and UN peacekeepers on November 7th, according to the Arab News via AFP.
The army said “the Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint.” Sidon, a majority Sunni city, has not been targeted as much as other areas in the south of Lebanon.
The three casualties were passengers in the targeted vehicle. The army added that three Lebanese soldiers manning the checkpoint were also wounded alongside members of the Malaysian contingent of UNIFIL.
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The UNIFIL peacekeeping force stated a “convoy bringing newly-arrived peacekeepers to south Lebanon was passing Sidon when a drone strike occurred nearby.”
“Five peacekeepers were lightly injured and treated by the Lebanese Red Cross on the spot. They will continue to their posts,” it said, urging warring parties “to avoid actions putting peacekeepers or civilians in danger,” they added. UNIFIL has thousands of peacekeepers.
The Lebanese official National News Agency stated that a UNIFIL vehicle was on the “same lane” during the strike, which left UN peacekeepers with “minor injuries.”
The charred, mangled remains of the targeted vehicle which was only a few meters away from an army checkpoint was seen by an AFP correspondent in the area.
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The correspondent also saw peacekeepers from UNIFIL on the sidewalk near the checkpoint, some bloodied and wounded following the raid, as paramedics attended to their injuries. The correspondent added that the UNIFIL convoy comprised a number of busses.
There have ben a number of Israeli strikes on vehicles recently. A woman was killed Thursday in an Israeli strike targeting a car on a key road linking the capital Beirut with the Bekaa Valley and Syria. This was told by a security source to AFP and was reported by Al Arabiya.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported earlier that “an enemy drone targeted a car in Araya,” and added that the strike left the route blocked to vehicular traffic. The highway links Lebanon’s capital Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus through the Lebanese mountains.
AFP, Al Arabiya
