UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon says shots fired at Israeli border post

The Lebanon" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="78696" data-entity-type="organization">United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said there were no casualties after small arms fire targeted a border post.The Lebanon" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="78696" data-entity-type="organization">United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says one of its posts on the Lebanon-Israel border was targeted by small arms fire, with no casualties reported.The UN force said the incident occurred on Wednesday morning with several rounds of small arms fire targeting a UNIFIL position near Kfar Shouba along the UN-drawn border with Israel, known as the Blue Line.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Irish soldier killed in attack on UN convoy in Lebanonlist 2 of 3How and why UNIFIL failed to ‘keep peace’ in Lebanonlist 3 of 3French soldier serving with UNIFIL killed in Lebanon attackend of list“Such deliberate attacks gravely endanger the lives of peacekeepers,” UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that it was investigating the incident.Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the UN Security Council decided earlier this year to set December 31 as the end of the mandate for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.UNIFIL was initially created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, and its mandate has been renewed annually since then.The mission was expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Proponents say it remains important to maintaining a demilitarised buffer between the two sides along the volatile Israeli and Lebanese border.Israel has long accused UNIFIL of failing to prevent threats posed by Hezbollah and has increasingly pushed for the end of its mission since cross-border fighting escalated in the wake of the Hamas-led-attacks-on-Israel" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="214957" data-entity-type="event">October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.UNIFIL currently has 7,500 peacekeepers from around 50 countries operating in Southern Lebanon.Last month, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pressed the UN on the need to “avert the vacuum” that would be caused by withdrawing the mission from the country’s south without a viable replacement.