14 U.N. Peacekeepers Injured in Lebanon Protest
Fourteen U.N. peacekeepers were injured in south Lebanon on Saturday when protesters tried to stop an investigation into an arms cache that exploded in a Hizbullah stronghold last week, a spokeswoman said.
"During the entire course of the incident, 14 UNIFIL soldiers were lightly injured and some UNIFIL vehicles were damaged, among them one ambulance from the investigation team," spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane told Agence France Presse (AFP).
Ammunition stored in an abandoned house in the village of Khirbet Selm, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Israeli border, exploded on Tuesday. The area is widely considered to be a Hizbullah stronghold.
The U.N. had launched an investigation into the cause of the blast in coordination with the Lebanese army, and Bouziane said around 100 people gathered on Saturday and tried to stop it by throwing stones at the troops.
UNIFIL — the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon — called for reinforcements and one patrol was forced to fire warning shots into the air before it could pass, she added.
The peacekeeping force has said the blasts marked a "serious violation" of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a devastating 34-day war between Israel and the Shiite militant group in the summer of 2006.
Voice of Lebanon radio said Khirbet Selm residents smashed the windows of two U.N. vehicles while the French peacekeepers tried to inspect the house near the area where an explosion went off in a Hizbullah weapons storage facility on Tuesday.
The National News Agency said residents blocked the Bir al-Salasel and Khirbet Selm main road with burning tires after engaging in a fistfight with the peacekeepers and throwing stones on them in protest against the patrol”s attempt to raid the house in the area of Khirbet Selm-Dabshe.
NNA said the army interfered and brought the situation under control as helicopters hovered overhead.
Shiite clergy gathering in Tyre later issued a press statement strongly denouncing the UNIFIL stating the international forces” presence in south Lebanon "is to Israel”s benefit and not Lebanon”s" accusing UNIFIL of seeing things from one side only.
The Lebanese army issued a communiqué expressing regret for the incident, reaffirming its commitment to "work closely with UNIFIL on implementing UNSC 1701."
Hizbullah has refused to disarm although Resolution 1701 reaffirms the need for militias in Lebanon to turn in their weapons. The Shiite group argues that its arsenal is needed to defend the country against Israel.
Lebanese soldiers deployed in the south in the wake of the 2006 war for the first time in 30 years.
UNIFIL, set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and Lebanon, was considerably expanded after the 2006 conflict, which Israel launched after Hizbullah captured two of its soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.