JERUSALEM, Oct 13 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the United Nations to withdraw its UNIFIL peacekeeping force from southern Lebanon.
"Mr. Secretary-General, remove UNIFIL troops from harm's way." Netanyahu said in a public video message to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"It should happen now, immediately," Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu said the presence of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) forces in southern Lebanon makes them "hostages of Hezbollah", the Lebanese armed group and political party with which Israel has been in conflict since last October.
The Prime Minister expressed regret over last week's incident in which Israeli forces wounded two UNIFIL soldiers in southern Lebanon. "We are doing everything we can to prevent this harm," He said.
UNIFIL on Friday condemned the attack on the peacekeepers as a "serious violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council Resolution 1701" and said similar incidents put UN peacekeepers in "extremely grave danger".
Since the beginning of October, the Israeli army has been conducting targeted ground operations against Hezbollah positions near the Lebanese border, while intensifying airstrikes and artillery bombardments across Lebanon, particularly in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Xinhua / wikipedia/ gnews.com - HeK
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