Beirut– A UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon was attacked with small arms on Saturday morning, killing one French peacekeeper and wounding three, two of them seriously, the French president and the force called UNIFIL said.
Both President Emmanuel Macron and UNIFIL forces blamed Hezbollah, but the terrorist group denied involvement.
The attack near the southern Lebanese village of Ghandouriyeh came after a 10 day ceasefire The agreement was signed between Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group at midnight on Thursday.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2 when the Iran-backed group launched rockets at Israel. America and Israel attacked IranThe assassination of top officials including the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
war, in which Israel attacked Nearly 2,300 people were killed, more than 1 million were displaced, and widespread destruction occurred in parts of Lebanon.
“Everything shows that Hezbollah is responsible for this attack,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media. The UN mission in southern Lebanon said, “France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest those responsible and take up their responsibilities with UNIFIL.”
In Beirut, three judicial officials said the country’s military tribunal had opened an investigation into the incident and was in contact with army intelligence to identify the attackers. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Hezbollah denied being linked to the attack and in a statement called for caution in assigning blame and judgment until the Lebanese Army completes its investigation to determine the full circumstances of the incident. Hezbollah said the peacekeepers should coordinate with the Lebanese army in their operations.
Hezbollah expressed surprise in the statement at the hasty accusations leveled against it, especially given the silence of these same parties “when the Israeli enemy attacks UNIFIL forces.”
Macron identified the dead soldier as Staff Sgt. Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment from Montauban. He said Montorio’s three “armed companions were wounded and evacuated.”
“The nation bows in respect and offers its support to the families of our soldiers and all our military personnel engaged in the pursuit of peace in Lebanon,” he said.
He died about a month later a drone attack On 12 March, a Kurdish military base in the Erbil region of Iraq was targeted, killing French chief warrant officer Arnaud Frion and wounding six others.
French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said Saturday that the soldier died during an ambush. He said he was on a mission to open a route towards the UNIFIL post which had been isolated for several days due to fighting in the area between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
A 10-day ceasefire took effect in Lebanon on Friday, but it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by the ceasefire, which played no role in the talks.
“He was captured at very close range in an ambush by an armed group,” she said on X. “After receiving a direct shot from a light weapon, he was immediately pulled under fire by his comrades, who were unable to revive him.”
UNIFIL said that on Saturday, a patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghandouriyeh was fired upon by non-state actors with small arms fire. UNIFIL said one peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured, two of them in serious condition.
Macron spoke to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam after the attack, “asking the Lebanese authorities to shed full light on this incident, to identify and prosecute those responsible without delay, and to make every possible effort to ensure the safety of UNIFIL troops, who should not be targeted under any circumstances,” Macron’s office said.
Salam posted on Twitter that he had ordered an investigation into the attack and brought the perpetrators to justice. Aoun and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the attack.
The Lebanese army condemned the attack in a statement and said it would continue its “close coordination” with UNIFIL. The army said it was investigating the attack to catch the culprits.
Macron also “reiterated the importance of full respect for the ceasefire by all parties and reaffirmed France’s commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty for the benefit of all Lebanese people and to regional stability.”
Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli military said it had carried out air and ground strikes in southern Lebanon, after identifying several incidents in which militants “violated the ceasefire agreement” by moving into areas close to Israeli troops.
The army referred to the “Yellow Line” for the first time, saying militants tried to reach it from the north.
There is no mention of the “Yellow Line” in the 10-day ceasefire agreement announced by President Donald Trump and which came into force this week.
The US State Department said on Thursday that in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, Israel reserves the right to defend itself “against attacks, at any time, planned, imminent or ongoing.”
Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qammati told Lebanon’s Al-Jadeid TV on Saturday that the group would not tolerate any Israeli attacks as happened after the November 2024 ceasefire, when Israel continued to carry out almost daily airstrikes.
“This time we will not practice the strategic patience policy,” Qammati said.
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Petrequin reported from London.
