A rocket attack on Tuesday injured eight Austrian soldiers with a UN peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon, the Austrian defence ministry said, condemning the attack and adding it was “currently not possible to say where the attack came from”.
The rocket hit Camp Naqoura near the border with Israel, which has been trading fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and since last month has ramped up strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent in ground forces into Lebanon.
“Eight Austrian army soldiers from the UNIFIL contingent (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) were injured today at 12:58 pm (1058 GMT) by a rocket hit in Camp Naqoura; none of them seriously,” the statement said.
The injuries were “minor and superficial”, with none of the soldiers, who are members of a repair platoon, requiring emergency medical attention, the statement added.
“We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and demand that the attack be investigated immediately,” Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner said in the statement.
“All sides are called upon to immediately ensure the safety of all UN peacekeepers. It cannot and will not be tolerated that the UN peacekeepers are deliberately or inadvertently put in danger,” she added.
United Nations peacekeepers said last Friday that Israeli soldiers fired at one of their observation posts in south Lebanon, adding the security situation was “extremely challenging” amid other unidentified attacks.
Initially set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon, UNIFIL has around 10,000 peacekeepers from some 50 countries deployed in south Lebanon.
Add Comment