News- Middle East: Lebanon’s army has strongly denounced an attack by Israeli occupation forces that nearly struck the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces in southern Lebanon, calling it a “dangerous escalation.”

In a statement released on Sunday, Lebanon’s army said the targeting of the UNIFIL patrol was the latest in a string of “violations of Lebanese sovereignty.”

It added that Israeli actions were causing instability in Lebanon and hindering the completion of the army’s deployment in the south”.

The statement added that the army command was “working in coordination with friendly countries to put an end to the ongoing violations and breaches by the Israeli enemy, which require immediate action as they represent a dangerous escalation.”

Israeli forces “fired on UNIFIL peacekeepers from a Merkava tank from near a position Israel has established in Lebanese territory,” the peacekeepers said in a statement on Sunday.

The Israeli army admitted that its soldiers opened fire, but claimed that  “poor weather conditions” caused them to mistake the UN patrol for “suspects.”

UNIFIL said that heavy machine gun rounds hit about 5 meters (5.5 yards) from their personnel. “Yet again, we call on the [Israeli military] to cease any aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers,” it said.

UNIFIL said the shooting “represents a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” which ended a 2006 war between Israel and the Hezbollah resistance movement.

The 1701 resolution also formed the basis of last November's truce deal.   

The National News Agency also recently reported that Lebanon plans to file a complaint with the UN Security Council over Israel’s construction of a concrete wall along its southern border that traverses the “Blue Line,” the demarcation line dividing the Arab country from the Israeli-occupied territories.

The Israeli army killed more than 4,000 people and injured nearly 17,000 in its attacks on Lebanon, which began in October 2023 and turned into a full-scale aggression in September 2024.

Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire agreement that took effect on November 27, 2024. Under the deal, Tel Aviv was required to withdraw fully from the Lebanese territory, but has kept forces stationed at five sites, in clear violation of the 1701 resolution and the terms of last November’s agreement.

But Israel continues to attack Lebanon on a near-daily basis in violation of the yearlong ceasefire in its aggression against the Arab country.

ebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Saturday that Hezbollah had the “legitimate” right to reorganize its internal structure in response to the recent Israeli attacks, emphasizing that the resistance movement’s actions fall within its right to defend the country’s sovereignty.

The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a speech on Tuesday, reiterated that the US and Israel’s calls for the disarmament of the resistance group were designed to weaken Lebanon and leave it exposed to external aggression.

He described the calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah as “a pretext” for launching an aggression on Lebanon

The Hezbollah chief stressed that the US and Israeli threats and pressure “will not change our stance; we will defend our land and dignity, and we will not surrender.”

Source: Press TV