Israeli Strike Wounds UN Observers in South Lebanon, Security Sources Say

BEIRUT (Reuters) – An Israeli strike on Saturday hit a vehicle carrying United Nations technical observers outside the southern Lebanese border town of Rmeish, wounding several observers, two security sources told Reuters.

The Israeli military’s spokesman Avichay Adraee denied that Israeli forces hit a vehicle belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL.

There was no immediate comment from UNIFIL or from the U.N. technical observer mission UNTSO.

One of the security sources said the car carried three U.N. technical observers and one Lebanese translator. That source, and a second security source, said that the Israeli strike had left several of those in the car wounded.

Israel has been trading fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon for nearly six months in parallel with the Gaza War.

Israel’s shelling of Lebanon has killed nearly 270 Hezbollah fighters, but has also killed around 50 civilians – including children, medics and journalists – and hit both UNIFIL and the Lebanese army.

In November, UNIFIL said one of its patrols was hit by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon, without leaving casualties.

UNIFIL last month said that the Israeli military violated international law by firing on a group of clearly identifiable journalists, killing a Reuters journalist.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Editing by William Maclean)

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