Lebanon says 3 killed, UN peacekeepers wounded in Israel strikes

An AFP correspondent saw UNIFIL peacekeepers gathered on the sidewalk near the checkpoint, some of them bloodied and wounded after the Israeli air raid – Copyright AFP Ferenc ISZA

The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike on a vehicle near a checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon on Thursday killed three people and wounded troops and UN peacekeepers.

“The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint,” the main northern entrance to Sidon, the army said.

With the exception of a few limited strikes, Sidon, a Sunni Muslim-majority city, has been relatively spared the deadly air raids targeting south Lebanon in Israel’s war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. 

The strike killed three people, all of them passengers in the targeted vehicle, the army said.

Three Lebanese soldiers manning the checkpoint were also wounded alongside members of the Malaysian contingent of UNIFIL, according to the army. 

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said 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.”

UNIFIL has thousands of peacekeepers 

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said a UNIFIL vehicle was on the “same lane” during the strike, which left UN peacekeepers with “minor injuries”. 

An AFP correspondent in the area saw the charred, mangled remains of the targeted vehicle which was only a few metres away from an army checkpoint.

The correspondent saw UNIFIL peacekeepers gathered on the sidewalk near the checkpoint, some of them bloodied and wounded after the raid, as paramedics attended to their injuries. 

The UNIFIL convoy comprised a number of busses, the correspondent said.

Israeli raids have intensified in recent weeks on Haret Saida, a densely-populated Sidon suburb that has a significant population of Shiite Muslims. 

Israel has also increasingly launched targeted strikes on vehicles. 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, a security source told AFP.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported earlier that “an enemy drone targeted a car in Araya,” adding that the strike left the route blocked to vehicular traffic.

The highway links Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus, through the Lebanese mountains.