What we know about attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon | World News

UN peacekeepers say they are being targeted by Israeli troops in Lebanon, following an alleged attack on a watchtower at one of their bases on Wednesday.

The Israeli military (IDF) says it is investigating the incident, the seventh since 9 October which UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) have blamed on the IDF.

UNIFIL has also recorded three other attacks but says it does not know who was behind them.

The latest allegation came hours after Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said his country “places great importance on the activities of UNIFIL and has no intention of harming the organization or its personnel”.

However, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti has told Sky News the attacks are “not mistakes”.

Sky News’ Data and Forensics team looks at what we know about these incidents.

Israel has ordered UN peacekeepers to leave

Israel has demanded that UNIFIL evacuate 31 bases along the Israeli-Lebanese border, warning these areas are an “active combat zone” as it seeks to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

The militant group has been firing missiles into Israel since 8 October last year in solidarity with Hamas, and Israel says many of those missiles are launched from areas near UNIFIL bases.

UN peacekeepers have been stationed in the area since 1978, with a mandate to observe hostilities and assist in the implementation of peace agreements.

UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti says the IDF has told the peacekeepers to leave for their own safety, but in recent days they have been attacked “mainly by the IDF”.

The image below shows the damage to the watchtower, which Sky News has geolocated to the western edge of UNIFIL’s headquarters.

Former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician Trevor Ball said the damage is “what you’d expect to see” from an Israeli explosive tank round, a position echoed by retired Irish army colonel Desmond Travers.

Former British army artillery officer and director of Chiron Resources, Chris Cobb-Smith, said it’s “almost certainly a tank strike”.

“I firmly believe this is a deliberate strike,” he adds, noting the optical technology available on IDF tanks and the Israeli military’s longstanding knowledge of where UNIFIL bases are located.

However, N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services (ARES), says the damage could also be consistent with a recoilless rifle, weapons Hezbollah are thought to possess.

All four experts said the firing weapon most likely had a direct view of the tower.

Mr Cobb-Smith says the trajectory appears to be “virtually horizontal” and from the south-west. Sky News’ analysis of the area’s topology along this trajectory found the tower is only visible from within 100 metres, or from the top of a ridge 2km away.

Satellite imagery of the ridge shows what appear to be new paths cleared in the foliage by heavy vehicles between 6 and 16 October, overlapping with the date of the incident. Mr Cobb-Smith says the paths could be from tanks, but it is “difficult to say with certainty”.

Sky News asked the IDF whether it fired the shot that hit the tower, but did not receive a response to this specific question. The IDF told us Hezbollah operates from near UNIFIL posts, adding the Israeli military maintains routine communication with UNIFIL.

The IDF said it had issued a warning to UNIFIL troops at the base hours earlier, instructing them to enter protected spaces.

“We did not receive a warning,” says Mr Tenenti.

“At that time we were at Level 2, which is not the highest level of security. Level 3 is when we go to bunkers because there is active shelling.”

The IDF says Hezbollah are active near UN bases

The IDF has defended the necessity of conducting military operations near UNIFIL bases, arguing Hezbollah often buries weapons caches and digs tunnels in areas nearby.

On Sunday, Israel’s military showed journalists what it said was a pair of tunnel entrances and a small arms cache used by Hezbollah a few hundred meters from UNP 1-31, the base that UNIFIL said had been attacked three times in the previous week.

Brig. Gen. Yiftach Nurkin said the tunnel entrances should have been visible to UNIFIL.

Footage taken at the scene shows the base’s watchtower is visible from one of the tunnel entrances, at a standing height, as is an IDF observation point.

However, it is unclear whether the entrance would previously have been obscured by shrubbery. Satellite imagery and on-the-ground footage shows large parts of the area have been stripped of trees and bushes since the IDF began its ground invasion.

Under UN Security Council resolution 1701, agreed in 2006, neither Hezbollah nor Israel are allowed to operate in southern Lebanon.

Since then, however, Hezbollah has not only maintained but expanded its military infrastructure in the area – including tunnels and caches right along the Israeli border.

Lebanese political analyst Sami Nader says UNIFIL has been hamstrung by the weakness of Lebanon’s government.

“The Lebanese army was supposed to deploy all along the border between Israel and Lebanon,” he says. “But they did not have enough political backup from the government, because of internal division and Hezbollah influence.”

Lebanon has also accused Israel of violating the agreement by repeatedly using its airspace without permission to conduct strikes in Syria.

Five peacekeepers have been injured in the attacks

UNIFIL reported two incidents on the night of 11 October.

The IDF says “no danger was posed to UNIFIL forces by the IDF activity.” An Israeli security official adds “none of this would have happened” if UNIFIL had evacuated the post when requested.

Later that day, the IDF alleged Hezbollah had been launching rockets into Israel from a site just 150 metres from the base, UNP 5-42.

The same IDF infographic also alleges Hezbollah launched rockets from within a different UNIFIL base, UNP 4-2. The IDF declined to comment on this allegation.

UNIFIL spokesperson Mr Tenenti says even if the IDF was under fire “that does not justify entering our position and endangering our troops”.

“You’re putting at risk the lives of our peacekeepers by staying inside [our base],” he adds. “We are not part of the conflict.”

He says the IDF has also risked drawing fire to UNIFIL peacekeepers by setting up positions next to their bases.

The photographs below, shared with and verified by Sky News, were taken at some point between 1 and 3 October. They show the view from UNP 6-52, which is staffed by UNIFIL’s Irish and Polish contingents.

The photograph on the left shows at least three IDF Merkava tanks just 20 metres from the base’s southern perimeter. The picture on the right shows an IDF tank and bulldozer less than 270 metres west of the base.

Satellite imagery taken a few days later shows what the IDF was building – earthworks, fortifying at least 28 military vehicles stationed within 125 metres of the UNIFIL base.

Sky News asked the IDF why it chose to set up a position right next to the base, but did not receive a response to this specific question.

UNIFIL refuses to leave its posts

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF is doing its “utmost” to prevent harm to UN peacekeepers, but “the best way to assure the safety of UNIFIL personnel is for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s request and to temporarily get out of harm’s way”.

Mr Tenenti says it is the responsibility of both Israel and Hezbollah to ensure the safety of peacekeepers and UNIFIL intends to fulfil its mission to monitor hostilities, which it says is “more crucial than ever”.

“Imagine if all of a sudden… there [is] no one able to monitor,” he says.

“I think we need to ask the IDF why they prefer not to have peacekeepers.”

Additional reporting by Olive Enokido-Lineham and Sam Doak, OSINT producers

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.